SECRETARY'S REPORT 



stood by the millions of Americans of the present generation who 

 come in ever-increasin<2r numbers to the musemn. 



10. THE WORLD OF MAMMALS 



Scientifically, the Smithsonian has sometimes been called the Na- 

 tion's biological bureau of standards. It has been given this name 

 because in the Smithsonian's collections zoological and botanical 

 specimens are used every day by hundreds of scientists for compari- 

 son and identification of new or unknown specimens. In connection 

 with this work, for example, the Institution has developed one of 

 the great collections of the furs of mammals of the world. Many of 

 these pelts are kept in special storage rooms at low temperature for 

 scientific study. In the new World of Mammals Hall, however, the 

 visitor has an opportunity to see and study, in many instances in 

 habitat placements, some of the most interesting and important mam- 

 mals of the globe. These specimens are not presented monotonously 

 as one "stuffed" animal after another in case after case. Rather, they 

 are displayed so as to teach the basic principles of biology that are 

 related to nutrition, locomotion, evolution, ecology, and survival. 

 Here the student of zoology can see the many different ways in which 

 the mammals of the world have adapted themselves to tropic heat 

 and arctic snows. The ecological approach of many of these displays 

 gives new significance to the exhibits that they present. Some of the 

 groups of animals are dramatically arranged. Changing lights, for 

 example, make it possible for the visitor to see first how lions view 

 their prey, and then how the would-be prey, in this case zebras, view 

 their would-be predators. IMany of the great African mammals dis- 

 played were collected by President Theodore Roosevelt during his 

 history-making African Expedition of 1909-10, sponsored by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



11. NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 



In the hall just described, emphasis is given to mammals of the 

 world exclusive of the great North American mammals. In this 

 specifically North American Mammal Hall is a series of 12 large 

 habitat groups showing the great and now often veiy rare wild ani- 

 mals of the Northern Hemisphere of America. Each of these large 

 exhibits not only shows numbers of specimens of such animals as 

 bison, elk, moose, and bear but also presents each group, often show- 

 ing both adult and young animals, against a skillfully painted back- 

 ground of the terrain typical of the habitat of the animal. The 

 mounted specimens in the foreground are shown in settings of care- 

 fully reproduced trees, rocks, and other natural items. The rapid 

 restriction of the range of some of these great animals, and even their 



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