At the American Museum of Natural History 



Opening of the Fossil Mammal Halls 

 The American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory launches its 125th-anniversary celebra- 

 tion with the opening of two of six new fos- 

 sil halls on Saturday, May 14. Specimens in 

 the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing of Mam- 

 mals and Their Extinct Relatives include the 

 mummified remains of a baby mammoth 

 that lived 25,000 years ago, whose head, 

 trunk, and leg were found "freeze-dried" in 

 the Alaskan mndra; the ferocious beai'-dog 

 Amphicyon, shown running at full speed in 

 pursuit of its prey, the antelopelike Ramo- 

 ceros; a twelve-million-year-old early 

 horse. Protohippits, which may have died 

 trying to give birth; and a Palaeocastor, an 

 early relative of beavers, shown where it 

 was found at the bottom of an eight-foot- 

 long spiral burrow. 



Three Charles R. Knight murals and 

 dozens of his smaller paintings have been 

 restored and are displayed in the fossil 

 mammal halls. In addition, for each of six 

 extinct species, contemporary artist Jay 

 Mattemes has contributed three drawings 

 depicting the fossil skeleton, the muscles 

 and tendons, and how the animal might 

 have looked in life. At interactive computer 

 stations, visitors may take tours of evolu- 

 tionary history with Museum scientists and 

 see reconstructions of the fossil animals in 

 their original habitats. 



The new fossil mammal halls and the 

 Museum's new library are part of a vast ren- 

 ovation plan still in progress. Two new di- 



Martyn Colbeck 's prize-winning photograph 



© British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 



nosaur halls on the fourth floor will open in 

 1995. The project will be finished in 1996 

 with the opening of the Hall of Primitive 

 Vertebrates and an Orientation Center. 



The Biodiversity Crisis 



The last three lectures in a series spon- 

 sored by the Museum's Center for Biodiver- 

 sity and Conservation will be held this 

 month. On Tuesday, May 3, and Thursday, 

 May 12, Joel L. Cracraft, a curator in the 

 Department of Ornithology and acting di- 

 rector of the Center, will discuss the scien- 

 tific basis of current mass extinctions in the 

 earth's species. On Tuesday, May 17, 

 Michael J. Novacek, a Museum vice-presi- 

 dent and dean of science, will talk about the 

 challenges in dealing with the biodiversity 

 crisis and the relationship of science to pub- 

 lic policy. The lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. 

 Call (212) 769-53 10 for information. 



Conservation in the Twenty-first 

 Century 



Richard Leakey, paleontologist and direc- 

 tor of Kenya's Wildlife Service, will talk 

 about environmental dangers that threaten 

 us with extinction. He will draw upon mate- 

 rial from his new book. Origins Reconsid- 

 ered: In Search of What Makes Us Human. 

 The talk will be given on Wednesday, May 

 18, at 7:00 pm. in the Main Auditorium. 

 Tickets are $29 ($19 for Museum and 

 Learning Annex members). Call (212) 769- 

 5310 for information. 



Thar' She Blows 



Kenneth A. Chambers, a retired Museum 

 educator and lecturer in zoology and explo- 

 ration, will discuss the turbulent history of 

 whaling in a slide-illustrated talk on Tues- 

 day, May 3, at 7:00 rm. in the Kaufmann 

 Theater. Tickets are $15. For additional in- 

 formation, call (212) 769-5310. 



Asian and Pacific-American 

 Celebration 



This month, Asian and Pacific- American 

 cultures are the focus of the Education De- 

 partment's year-long series on cultural di- 

 versity. On Sunday, May 22, choreographer 

 Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard 

 Knocks will present A Night at the Million- 

 aire's Club, a contemporary work based on 

 traditional Japanese concepts of space and 

 time. On Sunday, May 29, the Pan-Asian 

 Repertory Theatre will present scenes from 

 Wilderness, the final play in a trilogy by . 

 Chinese playwright Cao Yu. The programs, 



at 2:00 and 4:00 rm. in the Kaufmann The- 

 ater, are free with admission to the Museum. 

 For a complete brochure of events, call 

 (212)769-5315. 



An Upcoming Eclipse and a ,. 



Comet Collision ti 



Weather permitting, the solar eclipse on ' 

 Tuesday, May 10, can be observed safely 

 through telescopes at the Planetarium. On 

 Thursday, May 5, meteorologist Joe Rao 

 will give a slide-illustrated lecture about 

 this upcoming eclipse. In late July, Comet 

 Shoemaker-Levy 9 is due to hit Jupiter. 

 David Levy, a scientist at the Lunar and 

 Planetary Laboratory of the University of 

 Aiizona and codiscoverer of the comet, will 

 talk about the comet's collision course on 

 Monday, May 23. Both talks will begin at 

 7:30 rm. in the Sky Theater. For tickets and 

 information about all Planetarium events, 

 call (212) 769-5900. 



Restoration of the Knight Murals 



Charles R. Knight was one of the first 

 painters to re-create prehistoric animals 

 based on the study of fossils. In 1911, the 

 Museum commissioned him to create a se- 

 ries of murals that portrayed saber-toothed 

 cats, giant beavers, mammoths, mastodons, 

 and other extinct creatures. The restoration 

 of these murals, under the direction of paint- 

 ings conservator Fehcity Campbell, will be 

 the subject of a talk on Friday, May 6, in the 

 Kaufmann Theater at 7:00 rm. Call (212) 

 769-5606 for information. 



Photographer of the Year 

 Exhibition 



A closeup of an elephant taking a dust 

 bath won British photographer Martyn Col- 

 beck first place in the British Gas Wildlife 

 Photographer of the Year Competition. Or- 

 ganized by BBC Wildlife magazine and the 

 Museum of Natural History in London, the 

 competition is in its tenth year, and includes 

 11,500 entries from forty-two countries. 

 Thirty-nine winning photographs will be » 

 exhibited in the Akeley Gallery from Fri- | 

 day. May 20, to Sunday, July 31. 



These events take place at the American I 

 Museum of Natural History, Central Park f 

 West at 79th Street in New York City. The 

 Kaufmann Theater is located in the Charles 

 A. Dana Education Wing. The Museum has 

 a pay-what-you-wish admission policy. For 

 more information about the Museum, call 

 (212)769-5100. 



60 Natural History 5/94 



