Janies Ford Bell Volume N, No.1 Winter 1987 
Museum of Natural History 
For Friends of the Museum 
A Life in Natural History 
by Gayle Crampton and Don Luce 
"Does the educated 
citizen know he is only a 
cog in an ecological 
mechanism? That if he 
will work with that 
mechanism his mental 
wealth and his material 
wealth can expand 
indefinitely? But that if 
he refuses to work with 
it, it will ultimately 
grind him to dust? If 
education does not 
teach us these things, 
then what is education 
for?,, 
Aldo Leopold 
A Sand County Almanac 
Waiter J. Breckenridge, past 
director of the Bell Museum, 
recognized the need for environmental 
education as early as 1926. He has 
spent the majority of his life designing 
and creating educational experiences 
that have brought many of us a sense of 
familiarity with the natural world. 
Many of the natural history and 
conservation programs at the Bell 
Museum and throughout the state were 
established through Breckenridge's 
dedication and energy. A man of broad 
talents, Breckenridge's work has been 
characterized by dedication to the 
advancement of environmental 
education. 
Breck to 2 
Walter Breckenridge in Canada's Northwest 
Territories. 
Breck prepares a canvasback duck for exhibit, 1928. 
Breck from 1 
Outreach Program to Schools 
Growing up in the early part of the 
century, Breckenridge (known by his 
friends as "Breck") had first-hand 
experience of the lack of 
environmental education in the 
schools. 
"When I was a kid, none of the teachers 
ever mentioned anything that was out 
of doors. Reading, writing, and 
arithmetic were all they thought about. 
I got acquainted with outdoor things 
by playing hookey from school, and 
going down to play along the creek." 
In 1927, as preparator and taxidermist 
at the museum, Breck saw a way to fill 
this gap. He designed and constructed 
small portable exhibits that were 
loaned to schools in the area. These 
exhibits were used as the basis for 
lectures and lessons in natural history. 
The cases included detailed scenes of 
birds and other animals in small slices 
of their natural habitat. 
The portable dioramas were very 
successful. In 1927, fifteen schools 
were participating in the program, and 
by the next year the number had 
doubled. Eventually over 150 cases 
were built, and many of them are still 
in use today. In a 1927 paper 
describing the program, Breck stated: 
"By this means an enthusiasm for 
nature may be developed that will 
provide the child with a source of 
pleasure long after school days." 
2 
Nature Film Pioneer 
In the late 1920's, Breck took over T.S. 
Robert's pioneering work in nature 
movie-making. Breck recognized the 
benefits of film as an educational tool. 
Films were a dramatic and effective 
new method of documenting animal 
behaviors. Equipped with heavy, 
unwieldy, hand cranked cameras, he 
collected valuable footage. He filmed 
nesting cranes, ruffed grouse 
drumming, prairie chickens on their 
booming grounds, and sharp-tailed 
grouse strutting. Today, some of his 
films have gained significance as rare 
documents of endangered species. 
Not all of his filming attempts were 
successful, however. He recalls one 
nightmarish attempt to film sandhill 
cranes in a farmer's field. Having been 
assured by the farmer that the birds 
appeared regularly each morning and 
evening, he spent three full days sitting 
beneath a corn shock awaiting their 
arrival. When at last the cranes landed, 
his camera jammed, and he sat 
helplessly while the flock paraded 
within feet of his blind. 
Despite such occasional difficulties, 
Breck produced many films. For years 
the films were shown during the 
museum's extremely popular Sunday 
afternoon programs. Later, Breck 
produced films to accompany lectures 
which he gave throughout the country. 
Topics ranged from the migration and 
territorial behavior of birds to a variety 
of current conservation issues. His 
WalterJ. 
Breckenridge 
"Waiter J. Breckenridge, naturalist, 
artist, filmmaker, and past 
director of the Bell Museum, has 
contributed over 60 years of his life to 
nature education and conservation in 
Minnesota. From 1926 to 1969 he 
found his avenue of expression 
through his career at the Bell Museum. 
As director emeritus, he continues to 
be involved with the museum. 
After graduation from the University of 
Iowa in 1926, he came to the Bell 
Museum as a preparator and 
taxidermist for the well- known 
ornithologist T.S. Roberts. During 
Breck's tenure as curator he earned his 
Ph.D. degree ( awarded in 1941 ). 
Rather than focus on a single discipline, 
he chose to study several different 
areas of the natural sciences. Already 
known for his work in ornithology, he 
divided his coursework between 
zoology, botany and geology. His thesis 
research in herpetology was published 
in 1944 as Reptiles andAmphibians of 
Minnesota This text remains the 
standard reference work for the state 
and was the basis for some of Breck's 
in-depth studies on turtles, skinks, and 
toads. 
Breck's generalist education has 
assisted his work in many ways. As a 
preparator, he was able to follow the 
process of exhibit- building from 
beginning to end, often collecting, 
preparing, and mounting animals and 
plants as well as designing and building 
films were among the first nature 
programs aired on Minnesota public 
television. 
Exhibit Design 
The completion of the current 
museum building in 1940 created 
space for many new exhibits, and 
Breck eagerly planned large dioramas 
featuring wolves, snow geese, sandhill 
cranes and others. Francis Lee J agues, 
from the American Museum of Natural 
History in New York, came to design 
and paint the background panoramas. 
J agues and Breckenridge were later 
the actual dioramas. His ability to 
identify geological features as well as 
endangered plants and animals has 
ideally suited him to select natural 
areas for protection. He has selected 
sites for preservation by the Nature 
Conservancy, and has designed many 
of our state park nature trails. 
Those people who don't know Breck as 
a naturalist and conservationist, may 
well know him as an artist. In the early 
1930's he painted the shorebirds and 
woodpeckers for T.S. Robert's The 
Birds of Minnesota. He frequently 
illustrated his natural history articles 
with drawings and paintings. In the 
course of his research or during his 
arctic expeditions, he often made 
detailed watercolor field sketches of 
the wildlife he encountered. Since his 
retirement from the museum in 1969, 
Breck has devoted much of his time to 
painting. His paintings regularly appear 
in such exhibitions as "Birds in Art" at 
the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum in 
Wisconsin and the Wildlife Heritage 
Art Show in Minneapolis. In recent 
years he has traveled to Africa, South 
America and New Zealand in search of 
new subject material. Even today, at 
age 83, it is hard to coax him away 
from his easel. 
Breck's knowledge and commitment to 
education has made him an 
outstanding Minnesota naturalist. His 
love for nature and his dedication to 
seeing it preserved have inspired 
educational projects that continue to 
reach thousands of Minnesotans. Many 
of us owe our understanding and care 
for the environment to programs 
created by Walter Breckenridge. 
-G. C andD.L. 
joined by JohnJarosz, foreground 
artist, taxidermist, and preparator. 
Together they produced a series of 
exhibits that stand among the finest in 
the country. 
The new dioramas were created as a 
cohesive set with an ecological focus. 
Earlier exhibits tended to crowd 
animals into the case or show a single 
species without explaining ecological 
relationships. Breck saw that the 
exhibits' educational value could be 
enhanced by depicting specific 
behaviors and illustrating Minnesota 
ecology. 
From dressing to the final mount: Breck prepares a wolf for a diorama. 
"Our groups were to be a trip through 
all the various habitats in Minnesota. As 
you walked through the exhibit halls 
you traveled all around the state, from 
the southeastern hardwoods, up along 
the Mississippi, out into the prairies in 
the west, and back through the pine 
and spruce woods in the north." 
Great care was given to details such as 
the type of rocks, soils and vegetation. 
Each exhibit features a number of 
ecological stories that stimulate the 
visitor's curiousity. The snow geese are 
shown at the peak of migration; 
sandhill cranes leap in their courtship 
dance; and the great grey owl is 
mobbed by song birds. The result is a 
set of exhibits of outstanding beauty 
and realism. 
State Parks Interpretive Program 
In 194 7, soon after becoming the Bell 
Museum's director, Breck saw an 
opportunity to expand the educational 
outreach program of the museum to 
the state parks. At the time, the Parks 
Division provided no interpretive 
programs for visitors. 
Breckto4 
3 
Top: Breck and John Jarosz skin birds in Canadian Arctic, 1953. Above: Breck films snow buntings in the 
Bering Strait, 1964. 
Breck has made numerous expeditions to Northern Canada and the Arctic. This area has provided him 
with a wealth of material for film and study. There, Breck has examined glacial geology, observed 
traditional Eskimo hunting techniques, and studied migratory birds. In addition, the Arctic is a special 
place for Breck for other than scientific reasons: he and his wife, Dorothy, honeymooned there on a 
scientific expedition in 1933. 
4 
Breckfrom3 
"We figured that the people visiting the 
parks were good subjects, because by 
being there they demonstrated an 
interest in nature, but they probably 
didn't have much knowledge about it." 
As a result, the State Park Interpretive 
Program was created. The museum 
lent staff employee Donald Lewis to 
Itasca State Park for several summers, 
where he designed nature trails, lead 
hiking groups, and gave lectures on 
local flora and fauna. 
The Itasca program grew rapidly, from 
4,227 visitors in 1947 to 15,917 
visitors in 1955. In that year three 
more naturalists were added at 
Gooseberry Falls, Lake Shetek, and 
Whitewater State Parks. 
Breck himself laid out the self-guiding 
nature trails in many of the parks. He 
designed them to display each park's 
main geological and biological features, 
and to provide an explanation of their 
development. 
Gradually the state parks took over the 
program, yet Breck remained the 
unofficial chief naturalist until the 
1960's. Today, interpretive programs 
can be found in nearly every state park 
in Minnesota, where they continue to 
increase awareness and create 
excitement for the ecological qualities 
of our state. 
Walter J. Breckenridge has dedicated 
his life to communicating respect for 
nature. Anyone who has hiked the 
nature trails in our state parks or 
enjoyed a protected prairie or marsh 
has been exposed to Breck's work. 
Perhaps we visited the Bell Museum as 
children for our first close look at a 
moose or a bear. More recently, we 
may have brought our own children to 
the museum's Touch and See Room to 
stroke a wolfs pelt or finger the points 
on a rack of antlers. These exhibits, 
which lie at the heart of the Bell 
Museum's mission, provide a distinct 
view of the beauty and diversity found 
in the Minnesota wilderness. They are 
all expressions of the spirit and 
philosophy of Walter Breckenridge . .:I 
Don Luce is assistant curator of 
exhibits at the Bell Museum. Gayle 
Crampton is a history graduate of the 
University of Minnesota and an 
assistant at the Bell Museum 
Minnesota's 
Nongame Wildlife Program 
by Lee Pfannmuller 
It's 8 a.m., and the phones are 
ringing at the St. Paul headquarters 
of the Department of Natural 
Resources. All public inquiries 
regarding bats, mice, moles, snakes, 
songbirds and anything else that is not 
the traditional fare of the Department's 
game biologists, are routinely routed to 
staff of the Nongame Wildlife Program. 
This morning's first caller has a bat in 
her house and would like to ask a few 
questions. Assuming the bat is an 
unwelcome visitor, I begin suggesting 
techniques that may encourage her 
overnight guest to leave. However, the 
woman stops me, saying: "Oh, I think 
bats are great! I'm just concerned 
because there seem to be fewer in my 
neighborhood in recent years and I'm 
wondering if there is something I 
might do to help." Her concern is not 
uncommon and is a constant reminder 
that Minnesota citizens have a sincere 
appreciation for all wildlife. 
This appreciation was recognized over 
a decade ago when the late Dr.John 
Moyle, research coordinator for the 
Department's Divisiori of Fish and 
Wildlife, called for the creation of a 
nongame wildlife program. "It is time," 
Dr. Moyle wrote, "to provide a wider 
perspective on the traditional field of 
wildlife management, a perspective 
that will embrace the entire wildlife 
resource.'' Over the years,-
conservation measures directed at 
game species have benefited many 
nongame species. Wetlands acquired 
and managed for waterfowl have 
benefited rails, grebes and frogs. 
Upland nesting cover for game birds 
has provided habitat for songbirds, 
voles and toads. Nevertheless, 
nongame species in need of more 
direct management efforts had been 
overlooked. 
In 1977, three years after Dr. Moyle's 
memo was written, the Department 
hired Carrol Henderson to lay the 
foundation for building a statewide 
program. The program's mandate was 
simple: to preserve, protect and 
manage Minnesota's nongame wildlife. 
Not a small job considering that over 
400 species would fall under its 
jurisdiction! 
Carrol's first major project was to 
gather data on the distribution and 
abundance of select nongame wildlife 
species. Other projects included efforts 
to restock prairie chickens and river 
otters to west-central Minnesota, to 
establish secure habitat for piping 
plovers and common terns in the 
Duluth harbor, and to develop public 
outreach materials. 
Significant strides were made in those 
early years despite meager financial 
resources ( $20,000). The Nongame 
Wildlife Program became a vital 
addition to the Department's Division 
offish and Wildlife. However, the 
program would never grow to its full 
potential without some innovative 
means of increasing financial support. 
--An idea emerged in the closing hours 
of the 1980 session of the Minnesota 
State Legislature. Diane Vosick 
Audubon lobbyist and former tntern 
with the Nongame Wildlife Program, 
proposed that Minnesotans be given 
the opportunity to contribute to the 
Nongame Wildlife Program on their 
state income and property tax forms. 
Dubbed the Chickadee Checkoff, the 
idea had been tried in Colorado and 
successfully generated nearly 
$700,000 a year for nongame wildlife 
conservation. It was a simple idea with 
wide appeal to state legislators. 
The tax checkoff had an overwhelming 
impact on Minnesota's Nongame 
Wildlife Program. In the 1980 tax year 
alone, 12% of the population 
contributed over $560,000. By 1985 
the annual receipts increased to nearly 
$800,000. 
The checkoff's success presented a 
new challenge: to develop a long range 
plan that would direct the expenditure 
of tax checkoff monies. By 
mid-summer 1982 six staff members 
were added and the program's 
activities began to expand 
exponentially in four major areas. 
Nongameto6 
Wildlife manager Bob Kirsch strides off to construct a bluebird trail. 
5 
Nongame from 5 
Public Outreach 
Checkoff funds made it possible to 
co-sponsor Project WILD in 
elementary and secondary classrooms 
throughout the state. An innovative set 
of interdisciplinary lesson plans about 
wildlife ecology and conservation, 
Project WILD has reached nearly 
40,000 school children in Minnesota. 
Other projects have included the 
production and distribution of 
informational posters on popular 
species such as the loon, peregrine 
falcon and bluebird, and publication of 
a booklet "Woodworking for Wildlife" 
that provides instruction for building 
26 birdhouses and feeders. Slide-tape 
programs on Minnesota's reptiles and 
amphibians are also available for loan 
as are a variety of films including 
Legacy for a Loon, Peregrine, and The 
Greater Sandhill Crane Story. 
Research and Inventory 
Expanded funds have been a 
tremendous boost to the program's 
research and inventory activities. A 
small grants program that invites 
students, professors and private 
individuals throughout the state to 
compete for research funding began in 
1982 and has provided support to over 
30 new projects. Included are life 
history studies on Minnesota's seven 
darter species, population studies of 
the rock vole, common tern and snowy 
owl and investigation of mercury 
contamination in the common loon. 
Major research has begun on the piping 
plover, wood turtle, and four 
cave-dwelling bat species. A new 
computer database maintains data on 
over 630 active and inactive colonies 
of gulls, terns, herons, egrets, and 
cormorants. The colonial waterbird 
inventory begun in 1977 has become a 
sophisticated statewide monitoring 
project and similar systems are planned 
for eagles and ospreys. 
Habitat Management 
Habitat management is fundamental to 
nongame species conservation. 
Program staff are currently preparing 
management plans for each bald eagle 
territory located on state, county and 
private land. They are also developing 
guidelines to help foresters manage 
timber stands for important nongame 
species. In the Duluth-Superior Harbor, 
nesting habitat for piping plovers and 
common terns is being created while 
6 
Habitat lap sit: school teachers participate in a Project WILD Workshop. 
Project WILD is an environmental education program for elementary and 
secondary school teachers. The program presents basic wildlife management 
practices and develops an understanding of wildlife and its relationship to humans. 
The program is delivered through six-hour workshops where teachers learn 
activities to use in the classroom. One such activity is the habitat lap sit, pictured 
above. The lap sit is an intuitive illustration of the need for habitat integrity. Each 
person in the circle represents a component of the habitat: food, shelter, space and 
water. If one component is out of place, the habitat circle falls apart. 
throughout northern Minnesota signs 
are posted at heavily used public 
accesses to warn boaters of nesting 
loons. In Pine County, the program 
plans to manage a bat cave to protect 
hundreds of hibernating bats from 
recurrent vandalism. 
Endangered Species 
Endangered species comprise the 
fourth major focus of the Nongame 
Wildlife Program. Several of the 
research projects mentioned above are 
directed at species considered 
endangered or threatened. Efforts to 
restore species that formerly resided in 
Minnesota are also underway. The 
program is a major cooperator with the 
Bell Musuem in the effort to restore 
peregrine falcons to Minnesota. Similar 
projects for trumpeter swans and 
burrowing owls are in progress or 
being planned. Funds from the tax 
checkoff also support research and 
inventory work on endangered plants 
such as the Minnesota trout lily 
(Erythronium propullans), prairie 
bush clover (Lespedeza leptostachya) 
and prairie white- fringed orchid 
(Habenaria leucophaea). 
Nationally Recognized 
In the past five years Minnesota's 
Nongame Wildlife Program has 
matured into a nationally recognized 
conservation program. Revenues 
generated from the Nongame Checkoff 
have provided an unprecedented 
opportunity to focus on specific 
problems for the nongame wildlife 
resource. What's in store for the next 
ten years? The program plans to initiate 
more aggressive habitat management 
programs, an increased commitment to 
public education, and expanded survey 
work. 
As for now, a packet of information for 
the morning's enthusiastic bat caller 
will be sent out. Included is natural 
history information on the little brown 
bat, our most common species, a copy 
of a newsletter from Bat Conservation 
International, and construction designs 
for building bat houses. This packet of 
information represents an important 
part of wildlife conservation: public 
appreciation and awareness of the 
needs of all wildlife species, including 
bats, snakes and lizards. Equally 
important is scientific knowledge. 
Minnesota's Nongame Wildlife 
Program is working to ensure that both 
elements are brought together in a 
coordinated conservation effort for 
nongame wildlife. i!I 
Lee Pf annmuller is a staff specialist 
with the Nongame Wildlife Program 
of the Minnesota Department of 
Natural Resources. 
For further information on 
Minnesota's wildlife or the Nongame 
Wildlife Program, call 296-6157. 
IMPRINT is published quarterly by 
the). F. Bell Museum of Natural 
History. 
Museum Director . . Don Gilbertson 
Editor ............. Kevin Williams 
Associate Editor ....... Janet Pelley 
For information call (612) 624-1852. 
Address letters to Editor, Imprint, 
Bell Museum of Natural History, 
University of Minnesota, 10 Church 
Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 
Cooperation Expands Program 
Many organizations share the 
Nongame Program's concern for 
Minnesota's nongame wildlife. The 
Nongame Program promotes 
cooperation and coordination among 
these groups to further insure the 
preservation and protection of the 
nongame resource. The close 
association between the Nongame 
Wildlife Program and staff at the Bell 
Museum is just one example of the 
cooperation underway. 
Museum staff have played an active 
role in consulting. Former museum 
director, Dr. Walter Breckenridge, 
helped provide the program with a 
clear vision of elements crucial to its 
development and success, including 
strong efforts in public education and 
research. Several museum personnel, 
including Dr. James Underhill, Dr. 
Robert Bright, Dr. Harrison Tordoff and 
Dr. Elmer Birney, played a major role 
in helping the program develop 
Minnesota's first comprehensive list of 
state endangered and threatened 
species. 
Museum staff have also been 
instrumental in helping expand 
knowledge of nongame species. With 
funding provided by the Nongame 
Wildlife Program, Dr. Birney and 
graduate student Gerda Nordquist have 
embarked on a fascinating study of 
Minnesota's cave-dwelling bat species. 
Countless hours spent crawling 
through natural caves, sand mines and 
iron ore mines have provided the 
program with a fresh perspective on 
the status and distribution of these 
misunderstood creatures. Above 
ground, tax checkoff monies are 
helping Dr. Underhill and his students 
survey the state's streams and rivers for 
nongame fish species, including 
minnows, darters and shiners. 
Nongame funds also helped support 
publication of a new Bell Museum 
Occasional Paper: Field Herpetology 
by former graduate student Dr. Daryl 
Karns. Full of natural history 
information on Minnesota's snakes, 
frogs and turtles, the pamphlet is a 
wonderful introductory guide. In 
cooperation with Minnesota's 
Nongame Wildlife Program, the Bell 
Museum makes significant 
contributions to the state's nongame 
resource.~ 
-LP 
Students search for bats in the passageways of Mystery Cave in Southeast Minnesota. 
7 
From the Director: 60Years of Natural History 
The history of the Bell Museum is 
highlighted by individuals who have 
combined great energy with 
extraordinary vision. One such person 
who continues to lend a guiding hand 
is Walter Breckenridge, former 
preparator, curator, director, and now 
director emeritus. Breck's association 
with the museum spans 60 of the 
museum's 114 years. 
Breck is one of the few academic 
biologists who is, first and foremost, a 
natural historian in the broadest sense. 
Although Breck's doctoral specialty 
was herpetology, an area in which he 
has made subtantial contributions, one 
seldom hears Breck referred to as a 
herpetologist. He serves a much 
broader discipline. 
Some people possess the gift of seeing 
the natural world far better than formal 
training could ever teach them. Breck 
is one of these individuals. In his long 
tenure at the Bell Museum Breck has 
seen nature through the eyes of the 
scientist, artist, conservationist, 
educator and administrator. His vision 
has had substantial impact. Before 
television, Breck's films were the link 
to the natural world for tens of 
thousands of Minnesotans. His other 
efforts, described in this issue of 
IMPRINT, have enriched the lives of 
hundreds of thousands of visitors to 
our state parks and to the Bell Museum. 
Breck's many friends will be pleased to 
know that he still lends a hand to the 
Bell Museum. For example, he recently 
participated in several taped interviews 
on the development of the Bell 
Museum dioramas. The transcribed 
material will be placed in the 
University Archives and will be 
available for distribution in early 1987. 
For Museum Friends who wish a 
personally-guided tour of the exhibits, 
Breck will be on hand for our next 
"Visit with a Curator" onJanuary 28. 
To honor Breck, the Bell Museum is 
establishing the Walter J. Breckenridge 
Fellowship. The fellowship will be 
awarded annually to a student intern in 
Bell Museum of Natural History 
University of Minnesota 
10 Church Street S.E. 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 
University Archives 
10 Walter Library 
CAMPUS MAIL 
public programs at the museum. The 
award may be made to either an 
undergraduate or graduate student 
who exemplifies Breck's efforts to 
develop within people a sense of 
awareness of the world around them. 
The establishment of a fellowship in 
Breck's honor is most appropriate. Just 
as Breck's influence is felt through the 
years, the fellowship will be a lasting 
reminder for future generations to take 
an intimate look at their natural 
heritage. 
Contributions to the Walter J. 
Breckenridge Fellowship Fund may be 
made through the Bell Museum. 
Nonprofit Org. 
U.S. Postage 
PAID 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
Permit No. 155 
Jatnes Ford Bell Volume IV, No. 2 Spring 1987 
Museum of Natural History 
For Friends of the Museum 
Fire Ecology in the BWCA: 
Stnokey Bear Revisited 
by H.E. Wright,Jr. 
There is nothing more frightening 
than a raging forest fire with its 
crackling roar, flying sparks, and 
billowing smoke. Property is 
destroyed, important resources are_ 
lost, and lives are endangered. 
This is the dark side, and few can deny 
that a standard policy of fire prevention 
and suppression is wise for commercial 
forests or forests with numerous 
houses. Yet under carefully controlled 
conditions fire can be used to manage 
commercial forests. For example, in 
the most modern pine plantations of 
the southeastern states fire is used to 
clean out the underbrush. This 
eliminates competition for water and 
nutrients, leading to faster growth of 
the planted trees. This beneficial 
application of fire was inspired by the 
study of natural forests under natural 
conditions. 
Natural forests east of the Rocky 
Mountains are few and far between. 
Fire Ecology to 2 
Fire Ecology from 1 
Virtually the entire area was cut over in 
the nineteenth century, so that by the 
1930's very little was left. By far the 
largest remaining area of uncut forest is 
in northern Minnesota, in the 
Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). 
Since its origin more than 10,000 years 
ago, when the landscape was released 
from the cover of glacial ice, more than 
half of the BWCA has been essentially 
undisturbed by human hands. I say 
"essentially," because forest fires have 
been a major factor in determining the 
composition of these natural forests, 
and human efforts at fire suppression 
over the last 75 years are causing 
perceptible changes in the forest 
composition. 
How is the natural forest of the BWCA 
adapted to fire? How can we believe 
that fire is essential to the health of the 
forest? Isn't the destruction we see in a 
blackened landscape as ecologically 
damaging to a natural forest as it is to a 
commercial forest? To answer these 
questions, we must examine the 
ecology of the main trees as well as the 
long-range history of the forest. 
Adaptations to Fire 
The forests of the BWCA are 
dominated by conifers-pine, spruce, 
fir, and cedar. When a full-scale crown 
fire occurs, it appears to kill everything 
in sight. Actually, the fire may only 
destroy the plant parts above ground. 
Although the forest floor may be 
heated and the top soil layer severely 
burned, the roots of many plants are 
not destroyed. In fact the shock from 
burning the above-ground plant parts 
encourages sprouting from the roots of 
several species, especially aspen and 
birch. 
But even before the sprouters emerge 
other plants come to life after decades 
of dormancy: seeds stored in the soil 
have awaited the occasion when 
competition from ground plants is 
reduced, the soil warms up, light 
increases, and a charge of nutrients is 
provided by the disseminated ash. 
These conditions also favor plants such 
as the colorful fireweed which easily 
disseminate their seeds from areas 
adjacent to the burn. When the Little 
Sioux Fire burned the edge of the 
BWCA in mid-May of 1971, the 
blackened landscape showed patches 
of green a few weeks after the fire, and 
within a few years the ground was 
covered with a lush growth of herbs 
2 
Fire Management for the BWCA 
by Frank 0. Irving 
In the near future, some fires ignited 
by lightning strikes in Minnesota's 
Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) 
will be allowed to burn. The objective 
of this new United States Forest Service 
policy is to allow lightning fires to 
create and maintain ecological 
diversity as they did in past centuries. 
Fires will only be allowed to burn 
under prescribed conditions which 
will limit the possibility of human 
injury, and damage to special 
wilderness resources ( e.g., eagle nests) 
or property outside the BWCA. 
The prescribed conditions have been 
carefully chosen. The cause of the fire 
must be a lightning strike. The risk to 
human safety, special resources and 
property values must be very low. The 
weather forecast, fuel moisture, and 
expected fire behavior must also be 
acceptable. Next, smoke conditions are 
judged-will they be intolerable or 
not? Finally, extra equipment and 
personnel must be available to 
suppress the fire if conditions change, 
and the fire must not threaten property 
outside the BWCA. If all of these 
conditions are met, the fire may be 
allowed to make its contribution to 
ecological diversity. 
The United States Forest Service plans 
to allow approximately 1,500 acres to 
burn per year, or 15,000 acres in the 
next 10 years. This recognizes the year 
to year variability in weather and fuel 
conditions in the BWCA. During the 
past 50 years the Superior National 
Forest has recorded an average of 12 
lightning fires per year. From 1972 to 
1986 the number of lightning fires per 
year ranged from a low of 2 ( in 1978 
and 1982) to a high of 94 (in 1976) 
and averaged just over 19. 
This variability suggests that some 
years will produce few or no lightning 
fires that meet the prescribed 
conditions. Other years may produce 
more lightning fires than could be 
effectively managed as prescribed fires. 
As the Forest Service gains experience 
under this initial plan it will 
undoubtedly make adjustments. 
This is an important benchmark in the 
management of this unique and 
beautiful wilderness area. It should 
insure greater ecological diversity and 
a more natural mosaic of vegetative 
cover types for future generations to 
enjoy and study. 
Frank D. Iroing is professor of Forest 
Resources, College of Forestry, 
University of Minnesota 
1863-1864 
1900-1972 
Effect of fire suppression in the BWCA. Blackened areas show the extent of fires. During one year in the 
mid-nineteenth century, roughly 44 per cent was burned (top) whereas during 72 years of fire 
suppression in the twentieth century only 8 per cent of the BWCA was burned (above). 
and shrubs. At the time of the fire aspen 
seeds were scattered from nearby 
trees, adding another reproductive 
mechanism to their sprouting style. 
Because aspen seeds are viable for only 
a couple of weeks, the fortuitous 
combination of their reproduction 
schedule and the fire made conditions 
exceptionally good for aspen 
succession. 
But what of the conifers? Jackpine is 
particularly well adapted to the 
situation. Even though the trees may be 
completely killed by a fire, a new 
generation is assured by a very clever 
adaptation-in fact an adaptation that 
requires fire. J ackpine cones do not 
open every year to release seed, as is 
the case with most conifers. Instead, 
the cones remain tightly closed on the 
tree, until heated to a temperature 
generally reached only by a crown fire. 
The fire both opens the cones and 
prepares a bed for the germination of 
the jackpine seeds. If the fire occurs 
early in the growing season the ground 
may soon be covered with a myriad of 
seedlings. The uniform size and age of 
the trees in jackpine stands, no matter 
how old, are a sign that all the trees 
originated after a single fire. A fine 
display of this phenomenon can be 
seen in much of the area burned by the 
Little Sioux fire north of Meander Lake 
off the Echo Trail. It is now covered by 
a solid stand of 15-year-old jackpine. 
White pine and red pine have a 
different adaptation to fire. They grow 
to greater height and age than jackpine, 
and their lower branches usually fall off 
over time as they are shaded out by the 
tree crowns. When a fire comes along 
it may be confined to ground level and 
not reach the crowns, because the 
wind that fans the fire is less strong 
close to the ground in a tall forest. The 
thick red and white pine bark may be 
only scarred by the fire. Even if the fire 
reaches the crowns it may not kill all 
the trees, and the survivors will scatter 
their seed to initiate a new generation. 
Red pine in particular finds fire a great 
occasion for regeneration, for its seeds 
germinate particularly well on burned 
soil. Both red and white pine 
regeneration tends to be concentrated 
in the years after a fire, when light at 
ground level is more abundant than 
later in a closed forest. 
Spruce and fir, the other main conifers 
of the BWCA, are not adapted to 
recurring fire. They don't have to be, 
for their seeds are dropped annually 
and can germinate in the shade of a full 
forest. Thus in the absence of fire the 
forest will be gradually transformed as 
more and more spruce and fir trees 
grow up underneath the pine or the 
birch and aspen. Birch and aspen in 
particular are not long-lived trees, and 
as the old trees die and fall over, spruce 
and fir may become dominant. Fir is 
not long-lived either, and in its old age 
it becomes especially subject to 
infestation by the spruce budworm. 
Under natural circumstances it doesn't 
have much chance to reach old age, 
because a fire usually comes along and 
completely destroys the trees. Both 
spruce and fir retain branches through 
the entire height of the tree, so a fire 
can easily sweep up to the crown. If a 
spruce/fir forest is consumed by a fire it 
may revert to pine if a seed source is 
nearby. Otherwise it would become 
spruce/fir again, or birch/aspen. 
Forest History 
The forests of the BWCA form a mosaic 
of aspen, birch, jackpine, white and red 
pine, spruce, and fir. The trees in each 
unit of the mosaic are determined 
largely by the time since the last fire. 
The areas covered by fires for the last 
300 years have been surveyed by forest 
ecologist M.L. Heinselman, perhaps 
best known for his vigorous efforts to 
protect the BWCA wilderness from 
logging and other human disturbances. 
Heinselman has determined the 
chronology of past fires by counting 
tree rings on red and white pines back 
to fire scars. By mapping the area of 
even-aged pine stands he has been able 
to prepare maps of the entire BWCA 
showing the areas covered by various 
fires. Large fires were concentrated in 
years characterized by dry summer 
weather, for example 1910, 1894, and 
1863-1864. Before then the tree rings 
show that major fires occurred in 
1824, 1801, 1759, 1727, 1692,and 
Fire Ecology to 4 
3 
The forest floor bounces back with seedlings, herbs, and grasses one month after a fire in the Red Lake area. 
Fire Ecology from 3 
1681. Ground fires or other small fires 
occurred every few years, for lightning 
storms have always been common. 
The severity and extent of a fire 
depend on several factors: ( 1) the 
abundance of fuel on the ground 
( which depends in part on the length 
of time since the last fire), ( 2) the lack 
of rain during preceding weeks, ( 3) 
weather conditions following the 
initial lightning strike-especially wind 
strength and direction, and ( 4) the 
distribution of natural fire breaks like 
lakes or wetlands, with respect to the 
path of the fire. Heinselman calculated 
that an area equal to the entire BWCA 
burned over once in about every 100 
years. Some areas well protected by 
fire breaks, like islands in large lakes, 
might go for hundreds of years without 
a fire. Here one can see forest 
succession proceeding to its most 
advanced stage, with most of the pines 
replaced by spruce, fir, and northern 
white cedar. 
The fire history can be reconstructed 
to still earlier times by analyzing the 
charcoal content of lake sediments. 
Pollen analysis of lake sediments 
reveals the nature of the vegetation 
surrounding the lake, for the pollen 
grains of forest trees and shrubs are 
scattered by the wind and accumulate 
in lake sediments, where they can be 
preserved for thousands of years. 
Pollen analysis for a lake in the BWCA 
4 
shows that the overall composition of 
the forest mosaic has remained about 
the same for the last 10,000 years, 
since the lake originated with the 
retreat of the ice. The sedimentary 
evidence of fire is seen by the 
temporary increase in pollen of 
"sprouters," as well as by the larger 
number of charcoal particles. Analysis 
of sediments shows that fire has long 
been a dominating factor in 
determining the composition of the 
forest. 
Working with Fire 
Fire suppression in the BWCA for the 
last 75 years has been generally 
successful. A few small fires occurred 
during the dry years of the 1930's, and 
the Little Sioux Fire of 1971 provided 
the opportunity to carefully study the 
post-fire succession of plants, the shift 
in animal ranges, and the effects on 
soils, stream runoff, and lakes. But the 
long period of fire suppression will 
have its ecological toll, for the old 
spruce/fir forests that have been spared 
fire for so long are getting still older, 
and the spruce budworm infestation 
has reached epidemic proportions. The 
resulting tangle of dead fir trees has 
created such a rich fuel supply that the 
inevitable lightning strike in dry and 
windy weather may some day create a 
fire that could never be controlled no 
matter where it was headed. This is the 
dilemma faced by forest managers, who 
therefore have a practical as well as 
ecological rationale for easing the 
long-existing policy of total fire 
suppression. 
The problem of an appropriate fire 
policy in wilderness areas has also been 
faced by forest managers in the 
western mountains. In those national 
parks and in certain wilderness areas 
where the forests have been carefully 
studied and a management plan 
prepared, wildfires are allowed to 
burn. In some cases fires are purposely 
set under predictable weather 
conditions to reduce the fuel buildup 
and thus the danger of future 
catastrophic fires. In such areas the 
Park Serivce and the Forest Service 
have concurrently changed the 
message of Smokey Bear, so visitors can 
learn to appreciate that all fires aren't 
bad. 
Ecological research has shown that the 
forest is adapted to fire. In fact, the 
forest requires fire in order to 
regenerate. The absence of fire 
encourages disease and the subsequent 
buildup of fuel. It is clear that the 
long-range preservation of the natural 
ecosystem in such conifer forests 
requires the restoration of critical 
ecological forces-even those that 
seem destructive. f.!I 
HE Wrigh~Jr. is regents professor and 
director of the Limnological Research 
Center, University of Minnesota 
Wildfire and Prairies 
by Eric C. Grimm 
The absence of trees and shrubs upon 
large areas, called prairies, in this and 
neighboring states, is generally 
attributed correctly to the effect of 
fires. If fires should fail to overrun the 
prairies in the future, it can hardly be 
doubted that nearly all of them would 
gradually and slowly be changed to 
forest. -Warren Upham, Geological 
and Natural History Survey of 
Minnesota, 1879 
Early visitors of southern Minnesota 
were struck by the spectacle of 
wildfires burning prairies and 
preventing the invasion of trees. Fires 
burned very large areas annually, both 
a sight to behold and a literal pain to 
the eyes. Geologist George William 
Fetherstonhaugh wrote at Lac qui Parle 
on October 2, 1835: 
Before going to my pallet I made 
another journey to the upland behind 
the fort, to see the prairies on fire. It is 
a spectacle one is never tired of 
looking at: half the horizon appeared 
like an advancing sea of fire, with dense 
clouds of smoke flying towards the 
moon, which was then shining brightly. 
Here I remained enjoying this glorious 
sight until a late hour. 
Lyman Foot, a physician at Fort 
Winnebago in neighboring Wisconsin, 
wrote in 1836: 
We know that inflammation of the eyes 
is very common in the west, 
particularly during Indian summer. We 
know it by sad experience ourselves, 
and by the many hundred cases which 
we have treated ... We have seen at a 
glance, thousands and tens of 
thousands of acres on fire; the smoke of 
which no doubt, affected the 
atmosphere for three or four hundred 
miles. 
In the nineteenth century Indian 
summer was associated with warm 
weather, smokey skies, burning eyes, 
and red sunsets. The smoke, of course, 
resulted from wildfires. Burning began 
as soon as the vegetation dried out, 
peaked in October, and stopped with 
snow cover. The fires began again in 
spring after the snow melted and 
before the vegetation greened. How 
much was burned every year? What 
was the interval between fires? Early 
observers recorded fires burning very 
large areas of prairie annually. A settler 
near Springfield, Minnesota, wrote "the 
prairie was usually all burned over 
before the snow came and this left 
nothing to hold the snow and wind." 
And Fetherstonhaugh wrote near the 
end of his exploration of the Minnesota 
River valley: "The whole of this part of 
the country had been fired, either 
through accident or design, since we 
ascended, an occurrence which Milor 
( a local guide) informed me was 
certain to take place annually." 
Prairie-Forest Adaptations 
How did prairies persist in the face of 
fire? Native prairie grasses and herbs 
are so well adapted to fire that not only 
are they resistant to it but grow better 
if fires occur. Fire rapidly recycles 
nutrients contained in dead vegetation, 
converting them to a form readily 
available for new growth the following 
spring. Fire clears the dead vegetation 
and produces a black surface that 
warms up more quickly in the spring 
and increases the length of the growing 
season-the same principle as fall 
plowing, widely practiced for the same 
reason in Minnesota. Fire also prevents 
invasion by seedlings of less fire 
resistant shrubs and trees. 
With such frequent fire in the 
nineteenth century, how did any forest 
Prairie Fires to 6 
5 
Prairie Fires from 5 
persist? Why did the prairie fires not 
carry into the forests, eventually 
eliminating them? These questions may 
be answered by looking at nineteenth 
century vegetation history and the 
flammable properties of deciduous 
forests. 
Evidence for forest maintenance is 
found in nineteenth century surveyor's 
notes. Before Minnesota could be 
legally settled by non-Indians, it had to 
be surveyed. Early land surveyors 
divided the countryside into square 
townships six miles on a side and 
subdivided each township into 36 
square-mile sections. At each section 
corner, they placed a post and marked 
four nearby "bearing trees" to aid in 
relocating the corner. At 
"quarter-section corners," halfway 
between the section corners, they 
marked two bearing trees. They 
recorded these bearing trees after 
every surveyed mile into notebooks, 
which now reside at the secretary of 
state's office in St. Paul. The surveyors 
also wrote a brief description of the 
vegetation after each surveyed mile 
and often included remarks about the 
vegetation in the "General 
Description" following the survey 
notes of each township. The bearing 
trees comprise a regular sample of the 
vegetation before it was disturbed by 
settlement. Maps of bearing trees show 
the precise position of forest and 
prairie. The most revealing maps are 
those with an overlay of water bodies 
and topography. Streams, rivers, lakes, 
and topographic breaks-
firebreaks-clearly define the 
prairie-forest border. 
The prairie-forest border is also 
maintained by a unique property: 
deciduous forests are not very 
flammable. The deciduous forest of 
southern Minnesota, known as the "Big 
Woods," is dominated by elm, maple, 
basswood, ironwood and oak. The 
understory contains relatively little 
fuel, and the trees themselves do not 
burn very well. Moreover, the forest is 
more humid and less conducive to fire. 
Foresters call them "asbestos forests" 
because of their resistence to burning. 
If a patch of forest is protected by a 
firebreak, fires will not often sweep 
from the prairie into the forest, and 
fires that do start in forest will not 
proceed very rapidly. Thus the 
geographic arrangement of firebreaks 
and the positive feedback relationships 
6 
MD_NR crews use a helicopter equipped with an aerial ignition device-a helitorch-to ignite large blocks 
rapidly and safely. 
Burning on the Prairie-Forest Border 
by Frank D. Irving 
In recent years prescribed burning 
has been used in western Minnesota 
to restore and maintain natural areas 
and to improve critical wildlife 
habitats. The natural areas are primarily 
tracts of unplowed prairie owned and 
managed by The Nature Conservancy 
(TNC), a private organization 
dedicated to the preservation of 
natural diversity. The critical wildlife 
habitats include marshes, bogs, and 
aging aspen forests. They are primarily 
on lands controlled by the Minnesota 
Department of Natural Resources 
(MDNR). 
In 1962, The Nature Conservancy 
conducted its first prescribed burn on 
a 20 acre portion of the Allison Savanna 
Preserve in Anoka County. It was the 
first in the nation and the beginning of 
a new form of natural area restoration 
and management. From this modest 
start TNC has expanded its burning 
program with experienced staff 
members and seasonal crews. 
Most of the MDNR habitat burns are 
designed to improve habitat for 
sharptailed grouse, moose, and deer. 
Sharptailed grouse cannot survive and 
prosper without grass and shrub areas. 
Unfortunately, modern clean field 
agriculture and aging aspen forests 
eliminate such habitats. However, 
sharptailed grouse habitat can be 
maintained by burning every 2-5 years. 
Deer and moose habitat can be 
improved by burning every 10-15 
years. The fire girdles old aspen and 
willow stems; for about 15 years the 
abundant and succulent regrowth 
provides excellent deer and moose 
forage. 
Experience continues to help the land 
managers refine burn prescriptions to 
get the best results. They time burns by 
season, so that non-prairie invaders are 
hit hardest while prairie species are 
benefitted. In timing burns, the 
manager considers not only seasonal 
weather patterns but also the stages of 
plant growth that influence fire 
intensity. Fire intensity can be 
controlled by burning after longer or 
shorter drying periods or with higher 
or lower air temperatures, relative 
humidities and wind speeds. 
These examples of the use of fire 
illustrate an important development in 
modern fire management. The 
effectiveness of fire suppression based 
on improved science and technology 
has created some problems. However, 
trained crews and the equipment used 
for wildfire suppression can be used to 
conduct prescribed burns. Although 
these burning programs cover only a 
fraction of the area once burned in the 
prairie-forest transition zone, it is a 
significant beginning. 
with fire maintain the pattern of prairie 
and forest indefinitely. 
Climatic Change 
The prairie-forest border has not 
however remained static. Since the 
recession of the last glacier, some 
10,000 years ago, it has moved over the 
map of Minnesota, driven by climatic 
change. The evidence for these 
changes has been quietly settling in the 
bottoms of lakes for thousands of years. 
Plants produce pollen, which is 
released into the atmosphere. Some of 
this pollen lands in lakes or on the 
ground and is later washed into lakes. 
As layer after layer of sediment 
accumulates, a record of the 
surrounding vegetation is preserved as 
fossil pollen. We can obtain a core from 
the sediments, analyze the fossil pollen, 
and reconstruct the vegetation. 
Pollen analysis tells us that prairie was 
most extensive about 7,000 years ago, 
extending 75-100 km ( 47-62 miles) 
northeast of the modern prairie-forest 
border. Since about 5,000 years ago 
forest has been gradually reinvading 
prairie. The modern prairie-forest 
A Nature Conservancy volunteer ignites a prairie. 
border represents the farthest 
extension of forest advance. Pollen 
analysis also reveals that the area 
covered by Big Woods has changed 
over the years from prairie to oak 
scrub, with Big Woods developing only 
about 300 years ago. 
The force behind these vegetation 
changes has been climatic change. 
Global climate has been getting cooler 
and wetter for the last several thousand 
years. During particularly wet periods, 
when fires were less able to burn, 
forest invaded prairie. The forest then 
became stabilized along a firebreak 
until the next climatically favorable 
period, when it advanced to the next 
firebreak. 
The vegetation existing in the 
mid-nineteenth century, when 
European immigrants poured into 
Minnesota, was the product of 
thousands of years of historical change 
and was a snapshot of a dynamic, 
constantly changing picture. The 
settlers altered the picture by cutting 
the Big Woods and plowing the prairie. 
Would the original vegetation be here 
today if the immigrants had stayed in 
Europe? Probably not. Since climate is 
constantly changing, the "natural 
vegetation" today would no doubt be 
slightly different from nineteenth 
century vegetation. Although we can 
never restore the vegetation of the 
past, we can create areas of natural 
vegetation by providing "natural" 
environmental conditions, including 
particularly fire. 
Eric C Grimm is a research associate 
with the Limnological Research 
Center, University of Minnesota 
IMPRINT is published quarterly by 
the]. F. Bell Museum of Natural 
History. 
Museum Director .. Don Gilbertson 
Editor ............. Kevin Williams 
Associate Editor ....... Janet Pelley 
For information call (612) 624-1852. 
Address letters to Editor, Imprint, 
Bell Museum of Natural History, 
University of Minnesota, 10 Church 
Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 
7 
From the Director: the Extended Museum 
Each year the Bell Museum opens it 
doors to approximately 100,000 
people. Our visitors are an important 
group and we are eager to increase 
their numbers. At the same time we are 
attempting, through the development 
of outreach programs, to increase our 
links with those for whom a visit to the 
Bell Museum is not possible. 
The rationale for development of 
outreach programs at the Bell Museum 
is quite simple, we have a lot to offer 
and there is a tremendous need for our 
resources. We are the museum of a 
major public university. The research 
and teaching in natural history at this 
university should be effectively 
disseminated not only to museum 
visitors, but to persons throughout the 
state and beyond. 
Our outreach programs are many and 
varied. A program that is presently 
undergoing much expansion is our 
Traveling Exhibits Program. Exhibits, 
including abbreviated versions of those 
shown at the Bell Museum, are 
developed for showing at a variety of 
museums, schools, nature centers, and 
other institutions. Originally intended 
for display at locations in Minnesota, 
our traveling exhibits have been 
requested by institutions throughout 
the United States, including the 
American Museum in New York, and 
the California Academy of Science. Our 
goal is to have two dozen traveling 
exhibits in circulation within the state 
and nationally by 1990. 
Some of our outreach programs are 
actually brought into the community 
by Bell Museum staff members. For 
example, through a recent agreement 
with area hospitals, members of our 
Education staff bring programs, geared 
mostly for children, directly to hospital 
patients. 
Our publications are another form of 
outreach effort. IMPRINT and the 
Natural History Leaflet series present 
faculty and student research efforts to 
Bell Museum of Natural History 
University of Minnesota 
10 Church Street S.E. 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 
the public. These publications are 
distributed to Bell Museum friends and 
are available to others who request 
them. A third Bell Museum publication, 
Occasional Papers of the James Ford 
Bell Museum, provides scholarly 
descriptions of original research 
geared more to professional interests. 
Outreach programs are one of the best 
ways for a larger community to learn 
about natural history and gain an 
appreciation for the Minnesota and 
global environment. We only have one 
planet Earth; the more people know 
about it and its delicate balance of life, 
the more likely they are to take an 
active role in its protection. 
Nonprofit Org. 
U.S. Postage 
PAID 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
Permit No. 155 
Jatnes Ford Bell Volume N, No. 3 Summer 1987 
Museum of Natural History 
For Friends of the Museum 
Victorian biologist 
J.B.S. Haldane was 
once asked by a 
theologian what his 
study of nature had 
told him about the 
Creator. Haldane 
replied: 
He seems to have had 
an inordinate 
fondness for beetles. 
Fondness is an 
understatement. Beetle 
diversity is estimated at one 
half million to one million 
species. Compare that to the 
most successful order of 
mammals, rodents, of which 
there exists a paltry one 
thousand species, and you 
begin to shed concepts of 
mammalian superiority. 
Beetles to 2 
Pulsing Photuris males descend from tall 
pines to mimic males of other species. (By 
Dan Otte, Academy of Natural Sciences, 
Philadelphia, PA, SCIENCE, 11/7/80, vol. 
210, #4470; © 1980AAAS.) 
Beetles from 1 
This overwhelming diversity poses a 
problem for a beetle which is searching 
for a mate. With so many similar 
species and limited abilities to 
communicate, mating with another 
species is an ever present possibility. A 
female that makes a mistake and 
misidentifies her suitor may suffer 
severe reproductive consequences, 
perhaps reducing the number of her 
offspring. 
Species identification depends on 
transmitting and receiving information 
and is thus an important.aspect of 
animal communication. In the past, 
scientists believed that animals 
communicate in a way that maximizes 
benefits to both the signaler and 
recipient. Signals should be 
unambiguous, and only the intended 
recipient should respond. Each cricket 
chirps its species-characteristic chirp, 
each butterfly exudes its species-
characteristic odor, and each firefly 
flashes the appropriate flash pattern. 
Scientists now think that honest 
communication will exist, but only so 
long as honesty is the most efficient 
means for an animal to serve its own 
self-interests. If an animal ( or plant) 
can find a more efficient means to 
reach the same goal, it will do so, even 
if the new way involves deceit. That is 
why venus fly traps don't erect barriers 
to stop insects from climbing into their 
lair, and anglerfish don't withdraw 
their lures when they see a tempting 
prey item coming their way. 
Widespread deceit is of greater interest 
when observed between individuals of 
the same species. One common form of 
deceit is transvestism. Female 
scorpionflies prefer to mate with males 
who bear nuptial gifts of dead insect 
prey, wrapped in a silken sheath of 
salivary extract. Potential suitors may 
pursue insect prey and present a 
carefully wrapped package to their 
female. Or these same suitors may 
assume characteristic female behavior 
patterns, attract prey-bearing males to 
them, engage these duped males in 
battle, and if victorious, steal the prey 
and present their ill-gotten gift to the 
willing female. A different type of 
transvestism occurs in damselflies, in 
which females assume male coloration 
so that they can lay their eggs in 
relative peace, without being 
interrupted by ardent males attempting 
to mate with them. 
2 
Photinus pyralis. 
Are there limits to the effectiveness of 
deceit? The answer is sometimes yes 
and sometimes no. As the boy who 
cried wolf found out, deceit often 
works best when it's rarely used. Thus 
if all male scorpionflies only steal 
nuptial gifts from other males, there 
will be no nuptial gifts to steal. If all 
female damselflies assumed male 
coloration, males would then attempt 
to mate with any damselfly, no matter 
what its color. The frequency with 
which deceit is used may often depend 
on the relative size of the contestants. 
For example, it would behoove a small 
male scorpionfly to catch its own gift, 
rather than risk battle with a large 
screaming mad male scorpionfly. 
Alternatively, there may be a genetic 
predisposition to use a certain type of 
behavior. Some male crickets chirp to 
attract female crickets; other males of 
the same species are silent and steal 
females that are enticed by their 
neighbor's chirps. Laboratory studies 
show that there is a genetic 
predisposition to use each type of 
behavior. 
The problem here is that an 
evolutionary arms race seems sure to 
follow. Chirping cricket males do not 
want silent conspirators to steal their 
females. Thus we expect to see 
chirping males evolve counterploys to 
help them detect silent thieves. And 
over time the silent thieves should 
further refine their behavior patterns 
to adapt to the counterploys of 
chirping males. Ad infinitum. 
Where can we best see evidence of this 
communication cacaphony? The 
answer lies in the beetles, of course. 
The flashiest beetles of all are fireflies. 
Stories are told of how they stopped an 
invasion of a foreign army, their shining 
lanterns giving the appearance of an 
armed and prepared defense force. 
These lanterns are located on the 
underside of the body, at the bottom of 
the last abdominal segment. There is a 
layer of light producing cells 
(photocytes ), backed by a second cell 
layer that acts as a light reflector. A 
complex bundle of nerves sends 
messages to the photocytes, and a rich 
supply of oxygen is available for the 
light-producing reaction. These nerves 
release a neurotransmitter 
( acetylcholine) which activates an 
enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of 
luciferin. The light-producing reaction 
of luciferin is nearly 100% efficient ( it 
gives off no heat), which is why fireflies 
will never be useful as handwarmers. 
Light is a useful medium for long 
distance communication. Unlike smell, 
it can be transmitted upwind; unlike 
APhoturis female consumes aPhotinus male that she has attracted by mimicking the flashes 
of aPhotinus female. Photo/James E. Lloyd. 
sound, its source is easily located. 
However, "One ifby land, two ifby 
sea" was a very risky code on which to 
found a nation. After all, someone who 
wasn't Paul Revere could have held a 
lantern out that night and given the 
opposite information. Thus we see a 
glaring weakness in a flash code: 
anybody can do it. 
And anybody does. There are about 35 
species of Photinus fireflies in North 
America, and a similar number of 
Photuris, all using flash codes to 
identify their mates. Photinus males 
signal their females with a 
characteristic flash pattern, and await a 
response from receptive females who 
are perched on vegetation. Flash 
patterns of closely related species may 
be very different from each other, 
varying in duration, number of pulses, 
time between pulses, and color. The 
flightless females respond to male 
flashes after a species characteristic 
latency, usually with a fairly simple 
flash pattern of their own. 
However, in contrast to Photinus 
females, Photuris females use their 
lights not only to attract mates, but also 
to capture prey. Photuris females can 
devour a nice hearty meal of Pho tin us 
male by mimicking the flashes of 
Photinus females. Such meals are 
rather easy to get, for Photinus males 
are feverishly searching for the always 
scarce females ( females will briefly 
mate, then return to their underground 
burrows). The Pho tin us male comes 
in, prepares to mate, and discovers 
himself engaged in a consummatory act 
of quite a different nature, with a 
Photuris femme fatale. Dr.James Lloyd 
at the University of Florida, Gainesville, 
has identified individual Photuris 
females that are capable of mimicking 
the female flash patterns of four 
different Photinus species. 
Sometimes the Photuris female is more 
disposed to mating, while at other 
times she is more motivated towards 
eating. The number of eggs she 
produces may be tied to the number of 
Photinus males she consumes. In 
contrast, Photuris males are almost 
exclusively interested in mating, as 
sperm production is probably not 
limited by food intake. Thus there is a 
conflict of interest between Photuris 
females and males. 
Photuris males get around this 
assymmetry by mimicking a food 
source, thus exploiting the ravenous 
appetites of their exually reluctant 
females. They enter Photinus habitat 
and emit the species characteristic 
flash patterns of Photinus males. The 
Photuris females respond with the 
species characteri tic flash of Photinus 
females, expecting a sumptuous repast 
of Photinus male. Instead they are 
treated to an attempted mating by a sly 
Photuris male. 
WhenPhotinus density is low, a 
hungry Photuris female may not be 
content to await the arrival of a 
Photinus male. Instead she may 
attempt to attract her meal by 
assuming both sex roles, first giving the 
flash pattern of a Pho ti nus male, and 
then the response pattern of a 
Photinus female. This double-dose may 
lure any perceptive Photinus male to 
his doom. 
By now the plight of the Photinus male 
should have moved even the hardest of 
hearts. However,Photinus males can 
wear black hats as well. Consider one 
species of Pho tin us responding to a 
flash given by a female. He lands 
several centimeters away from the 
signaler and approaches very slowly, 
and with great care. Because of his 
slow approach, other Photinus males 
gather as well, all intent on the same 
female, but all attempting 
simultaneously to deceive each other. 
To deflect these advancing 
competitors, he may insert flashes into 
the flash sequence of his rival males, in 
hopes of making their flashes 
unappealing to his potential mate. Or 
he may elect to mimic aPhoturis 
female flash pattern to scare away his 
competitors. 
A Photinus male also has 
countermeasures to cope with 
Photuris femmes fatales. One 
adaptation is the aforementioned 
stealthy approach, coupled with a very 
erratic flight pattern. A second 
adaptation exploits the vast repertoire 
of Photuris female responses. The 
geographical range of a given Photuris 
species may overlap with several 
different Photinus species. Thus she is 
capable of mimicking the flash patterns 
of several species. A Pho ti nus male 
after receiving the correct response 
from a female, may then elect to mimic 
the flash pattern of a male of a second 
Photinus species. If the female 
responds to this flash with the species 
characteristic flash pattern of the 
second species, the deception has been 
uncovered and the male will abandon 
his quest. 
What are the repercussions of this 
evolutionary arms race in fireflies? This 
question has several answers 
Beetles to 4 
3 
Beetles from 3 
depending on an individual's interests. 
To the taxonomist, who in the past 
classified fireflies on the basis of their 
flash patterns, this confounding 
complexity is the stuff of nightmares. 
To the behavioral biologist, it is further 
reification of the value of carefully 
studying insect social behavior, and of 
the ubiquity of the natural selection -
process. To an inhabitant of North 
America, there is an aesthetic price we 
pay. In the Old World, male fireflies 
gather by the thousands on trees and 
light up the skies in awesome 
synchronous light shows. By historical 
fluke, there are no Photuris fireflies in 
the Old World, and thus males can 
display with impunity in a 
predator-free environment. Males who 
enacted such displays in North 
America would be sitting ducks to 
Photuris females--thus we must 
content ourselves with the intellectual 
challenge presented to us by these 
masters of deceit . .::. 
Fred Singer is a graduate student who 
studies interspecific territoriality in 
dragonflies, and is a frequent 
contributor to IMPRINT. 
We wish to thankfames Lloyd, who 
generously supplied information and 
photographs for this article. Dr. Lloyd 
is a Professor of Entomology at the 
University of Florida, Gainesville. 
What are 
Insects? 
4 
A Class unto Themselves 
by Jeff Brokaw 
The great diversity of life forms and 
sheer number of species on earth is 
astounding. Biologists have described 
1,700,000 species with many more yet 
to be discovered. Even more 
impressive, 750,000-or nearly half of 
all known species-are insects, and this 
is only the tip of the iceberg. Biologists 
estimate that up to ten times this 
identified number of insect species 
actually exist. Although insects are 
abundant and frequently seen, few 
people actually know what 
distinguishes insects from other forms 
of life, nor is the great diversity of 
insects widely appreciated. 
A male Photinus signals from his perch. 
To know what an insect is, one must 
first know a bit about the science of 
taxonomy. Taxonomists, biologists that 
classify living organisms, attempt to 
divide organisms into groups so that all 
members of a group share 
characteristics that distinguish them 
from other groups. The fundamental 
unit of taxonomy is the individual 
organism. Individuals that can 
interbreed and produce fertile 
offspring are classified as being of the 
same species. Similar species are 
grouped into genera, genera into 
families, families into orders, orders 
into classes, classes into phyla, and 
finally phyla into kingdoms. 
There are five kingdoms of life: the 
Monera (bacteria and blue-green 
algae), the Protista ( single-celled 
organisms such as amoebas), the 
Plantae (plants), the Fungi ( fungi, such 
as mushrooms), and the Animalia 
( animals, including humans). Insects as 
Photo/James E. Lloyd. 
a group compose the Class Insecta in 
the Phylum Arthropoda in the 
Kingdom Animalia. 
All arthropods have segmented bodies 
and jointed appendages ( thus, the 
derivation of their name from two 
Greek words: arthron meaning joint, 
and podos meaning foot). All 
arthropods also have an exoskeleton ( a 
hard covering like the armor of a 
knight). These characteristics 
distinguish arthropods from other 
phyla in the Kingdom Animalia. For 
example organisms in the Phylum 
Chordata-the birds, mammals, 
reptiles, amphibians, and fish-have 
endoskeletons (bones) not 
exoskeletons. The members of the 
Phylum Annelida, worms, have 
segmented bodies ( if you look closely 
at an earthworm you will clearly see 
the segments). However, worms have 
Insects to 5 
Oh, What a Tangled Web They Weave 
by David A. Hanych 
According to surveys conducted by 
Ya1e University's Stephen Kellert, the 
general public rates spiders among the 
least popular animals. This can be 
attributed to their "creepy-crawly" 
habits, method of feeding, the 
poisonous bite of some species, and 
misunderstandings about their biology. 
Yet, recent research on the ecology of 
this much-maligned group has 
provided insights into our theories of 
the niche, predator-prey dynamics, 
community structure, and the 
evolution of sociality. Spiders will 
probably never enjoy the level of 
public adoration accorded some 
animal groups, but they may at least 
earn a grudging appreciation for 
contributing to our general 
understanding of nature. 
Spiders are characterized by diversity 
in form, color, and behavior. 
Fortunately, this diversity permits 
scientists to compare species having 
different life-styles. Such comparisons 
often reveal differences in their 
behavioral adaptations. For instance, 
my own research focused on the 
behavioral ecology of a common 
Insects from 4 
neither an exoskeleton, nor jointed 
appendages. 
Aside from the insects, the Phylum 
Arthropoda contains other familiar 
classes including the Arachnida 
( scorpions, spiders, ticks, etc.) and the 
Crustacea ( crabs, barnacles, etc.). The 
insects are distinguished from 
arachnids and crustaceans by having 
six legs, a body distinctly divided into 
three sections (head, thorax, and 
abdomen), and most species have two 
pairs of wings attached to the thorax, 
i.e. middle section. 
Just as impressive as the great number 
of insects is the variety of ecological 
roles that they play. Insects inhabit all 
terrestrial habitats and all but the 
deepest aquatic regions. Their feeding 
habits are equally broad. As an 
example, insect mouthparts have 
evolved for highly specialized methods 
sheetweaving species in Minnesota, the 
bowl and doily spider (Frontinella 
pyramitela). The results were then 
compared to the orb weavers, who 
spin a very different type of web. 
"If we pull this off, we'll eat like kings." 
(Reprinted by permission of Chronicle 
Features.) 
of feeding. The mouthparts of 
grasshoppers have taken the form of 
tough, knife-like mandibles used for 
cutting and chewing foliage. In 
contrast, the mouthparts of mosquitoes 
have evolved into a stout tube for 
piercing and sucking. Butterflies and 
bees have evolved similar tube-like 
mouthparts for collecting the nectar of 
flowers. 
Given the great abundance and 
diversity of insects, it is unavoidable 
that people have extensive contact 
with this group. In many instances 
insects are pests. Billions of dollars are 
spent trying to control crop pests, 
termites, cockroaches, and so on. Some 
insects are also disease carriers. 
Anopheles mosquitoes transmit 
malaria, and some fleas transmit the 
bubonic plague. Other insects, 
however, are highly beneficial. Many 
plants, including some important 
crops, are dependent on bees, flies, and 
The Spiders and Their Webs 
Orb weavers spin two-dimensional 
sticky webs, up to three feet wide. The 
ant-sized bowl and doily spiders are 
several times smaller in size and spin 
three-dimensional, non-sticky, 
space-filling webs up to eight inches in 
diameter.Juveniles of both sexes and 
adult female bowl and doily spiders are 
web spinners--males abandon their 
webs upon reaching maturity and roam 
the environment seeking females for 
mating. The bowl and doily web is 
composed of two sheets of non-sticky 
silk. The finely-meshed upper sheet is 
shaped like a shallow bowl and 
contains the irregular, open-mesh 
strands of the stopping maze. The 
lower sheet or "doily" is spun beneath 
this "bowl." Silk strands are spun 
between these sheets and from the 
sheets to the surrounding vegetation. 
The spider clings to the underside of 
the upper sheet in an upside-down 
position, waiting for prey to enter the 
web. As jumping or flying insects 
encounter the upper stopping maze, 
they fall into the bowl and are grabbed 
Spidersto6 
butterflies for pollination, without 
which fruits and seeds would not 
develop. Bees produce honey and 
beeswax, shellac is made from the 
excretions of lac insects, and 
silkworms produce silk. In addition, a 
great number of insect species prey 
upon pest species, helping to keep pest 
populations under control. Insects 
(pests and otherwise) also form an 
important component of the diets of 
many birds, mammals, and fish. 
Insects as a group, therefore, represent 
one of the most successful and 
important elements of our biosphere. 
They are present in almost all 
environments that can sustain life, they 
have evolved highly diverse and 
specialized methods of acquiring food, 
and they play indispensable roles as 
pollinators and as a large component of 
the food chain. 
Jeff Brokaw is a graduate student 
studying plant-insect interactions. 
5 
Spiders from 5 
from below by the spider. The spider 
pulls the prey through the webbing 
and feeds by injecting digestive fluids 
into the prey and then ingesting the 
liquified tissues. 
Web Placement 
Only certain features in the 
environment provide adequate support 
for webs. Bowl and doily spiders living 
in old fields tend to be distributed in a 
clumped fashion, occupying shrubs, 
trees and tall forbs ( e.g. thistle). 
Although low forbs ( e.g. clover) and 
grasses are often very abundant, few 
spiders build webs on these plants. The 
spiders definitely prefer certain kinds 
of vegetation. The presence of webs is 
strongly associated with vegetation 
having an architecture that provides 
stable 3-dimensional support 
scaffolding. However, there are often 
areas with suitable vegetation, but no 
spiders. This is because spider 
distribution is also influenced by 
factors affecting dispersal such as the 
location of the egg sacs, wind, and even 
chance. 
Orb weavers are under different 
constraints because they require only 
2-dimensional scaffolding. Orb weavers 
exploit different parts of the habitat by 
using vegetation not available to the 
bowl and doily spider. 
The web-building bowl and doily 
spiders (juveniles and adult females) 
occupy their web sites for an average 
of five to eight days, but sometimes for 
several weeks. They p~rsist even when 
starving, or when their webs are 
damaged by wind, rain or an ecologist. 
Individuals simply repair or replace 
missing web parts within a day. In 
contrast, the residence times of orb 
weavers are only half as long as the 
bowl and doily. 
Feeding 
Feeding success determines how much 
a spider grows and how many offspring 
it will have. Since the web functions 
primarily to capture prey, web 
placement can influence feeding 
success. Some spiders have the ability 
to place their webs in areas of high 
prey concentration. However, for the 
bowl and doily spider, insect 
abundance does not influence site 
selection since insects in their habitat 
tend to be more uniformly distributed 
with respect to their webs. 
6 
Frontinella pyramitela snare. 
Differences in web form between sheet 
weavers and orb weavers also result in 
different kinds and sizes of prey being 
captured. Winged insects such as 
homopterans, flies and wasps 
constitute the majority of prey for 
bowl and doily spiders. Bowl and doily 
prey capture rates are very low 
compared to orb weavers, and there 
are no differences in capture rates or 
growth rates among bowl and doily 
spiders living on different vegetation. 
This means that all bowl and doily web 
sites are similar in terms of insect 
abundance, prey capture, and prey 
ingestion. 
Comparative Ecology 
The shorter web residence time of orb 
weavers compared to the bowl and 
doily spiders has been related to ( 1) 
greater variation in prey capture rates 
at different web sites, ( 2) a higher 
probability of locating a better quality 
web site, and ( 3) a smaller time and 
energy investment in establishing a 
new site. These characteristics favor 
frequent web relocation in the orb 
weavers. 
Unlike the orb weavers, bowl and doily 
spiders live in an ecological setting 
where ( 1) insects are more uniformly 
distributed with respect to webs, 
(Photo by B.J. Kaston.) 
( 2) prey capture rates and spider 
growth rates are not different among 
web sites, and ( 3) higher costs are 
associated with relocating a web. 
Under these conditions, natural 
selection tends to favor behavior 
characterized by relatively long web 
residence times because the 
probability of finding a higher quality 
site is low. Thus, in placing their webs, 
bowl and doily spiders are more 
strongly influenced by the presence 
and distribution of vegetation 
providing appropriate scaffolding, and 
by dispersal patterns of spiderlings. 
Their behavior appears to be less 
influenced by the distribution patterns 
of their prey. 
Postscript 
Over the centuries, numerous 
references to spiders have been found 
in the folklore, literature, and science 
of many cultures. Not all cultures feel 
disdain for spiders. In some American 
Indian societies, the spider is portrayed 
as a creature of mystery and power, 
sometimes benevolent, sometimes 
duplicitous, often playing an important 
role in legends. Even the ancient 
Spiders to 7 
A typical orb weaver's snare. (Photo by B.J. 
Kaston.) 
Spiders from 5 
Greeks created legends about spiders. 
One of the most intriguing is Ovid's 
account of the origin of spiders. In this 
fable, a deft seamstress named Arachne 
favorably compares her work to that of 
Athena, the goddess of wisdom and 
patroness of the arts. Athena challenges 
the presumptuous Arachne to a 
spinning competition and produces a 
tapestry befitting a goddess. In despair, 
Arachne attempts to hang herself, but 
Athena intervenes and transforms the 
suspended seamstress into a spider. So 
transformed, Arachne and her 
descendents have continued to spin 
and weave unceasingly through the 
ages by drawing silk from misshapened 
bodies.~ 
David A Hanych has a Ph.D. in 
Ecology and Behavioral Biology and 
is Coordinator of the Professional 
Learning Experience Program in the 
College of Biological Sciences. As a 
child, his favorite comic book 
character was "Spiderman. "It still is. 
IMPRINT is published quarterly by 
the]. F. Bell Museum of Natural 
History. 
Museum Director .. Don Gilbertson 
Editor ............. Kevin Williams 
Associate Editor ....... Janet Pelley 
For information call (612) 624-1852. 
Address letters to Editor, Imprint, 
Bell Museum of Natural History, 
University of Minnesota, 10 Church 
Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 
Spider Social 
Studies 
One Student's Research 
by Lore Ruttan 
You would not be aware that spiders 
can be very social animals unless you 
have lived in the tropics. In fact, in the 
tropics there are seven or eight species 
of spider that are truly social. Their 
webs may reach frightening 
proportions, at least frightening to 
those of us with vivid imaginations. 
One researcher observed a web of the 
west African spider, Agelena 
consociata, that was ten meters long 
and over five meters high ( 3 2 by 16 
feet). While this is an extreme 
example, webs having the volume of 
one or two cubic meters ( 1.3 or 1.6 
cubic yards) and containing a thousand 
individuals are not unusual. The 
individuals all cooperate in building 
their enormous webs and in capturing 
the unfortunate insects that land on the 
web. Taking care of the egg sacs and 
the juveniles is also a communal task. 
Surprisingly, adult females will 
regurgitate food to young spiderlings 
whether or not they are their own. 
How did these complex societies 
evolve? What were their ancestors like 
and what initial advantage did they gain 
from living socially? Sociality in spiders 
and insects most probably evolved 
along one of two alternate routes, the 
parasocial or the subsocial. Following 
the parasocial route, the development 
of tolerance and cooperation between 
adults is the first step; whereas the first 
step along the subsocial route is the 
extension of the parent-offspring bond. 
I believe the subsocial route was much 
more important in the evolution of 
spider sociality. 
I am interested in understanding what 
environmental factors may have 
encouraged previously asocial spiders 
to evolve sociality. Three major 
environmental factors could have been 
important in the development of 
sociality. These are predation pressure, 
food distribution and the physical 
features of the environment. To 
investigate this problem I am studying 
a primitively subsocial species, one 
that shows parental care. Fortunately 
this species, Theridion murarium, is 
very common in Minnesota and I am 
The spider world ts not our world; 
their ways are not our ways; 
strange and almost unbelievable 
are their habits and 
behaviour ... Surely such things 
cannot be. -K.C. McKeown 
The web of a subsocial spider, Tberidion 
murarlum 
able to do all of my research at the 
University of Minnesota Biological 
Station at Lake Itasca. 
Last summer I began an investigation of 
the effect of food abundance on the 
duration of parental care. I predicted 
that spiderlings will stay with their 
mother for longer periods when more 
food is available. So far, this seems to be 
the case. However, the onset of winter 
must disrupt the mother-offspring 
bond. I would like to know what would 
happen if winter never came, as 
happens in the tropics. If I were to raise 
spiders in a year-round warm 
environment with plenty of food, 
would the offspring remain indefinitely 
with their mother? Would they perhaps 
breed in the same web? This would be 
important since an overlap in 
generations is the first step along the 
subsocial route to sociality. If this 
project doesn't work, my backup plan 
is to selectively breed together the 
spiderlings that remain longest with 
their mother. After several generations 
of breeding I may be able to obtain a 
strain that is just a little bit more social. 
This would lend strong support for the 
view that at least some social spiders 
evolved by extending the 
mother-offspring bond. While this 
would be a very important finding in 
itself, it is also important within a larger 
context. Understanding how the social 
systems of spiders evolved provides 
insight into how sociality evolved in 
other taxonomic groups. 
Lore Ruttan is a graduate student in 
Ecology and Behavioral Biology. 
7 
From the Director: 
Legacy of Museum Collections 
Museum research collections can be 
compared to libraries. Both are centers 
of documentation, containing the 
records of change throughout time and 
space. And both must constantly seek 
ways to increase acquisitions and 
improve storage, conservation, and 
efficiency of information retrieval. 
Established in 1872, the Bell Museum's 
collections have grown into the state's 
and the Upper Midwest Region's finest 
collections offish (193,000 
specimens), amphibians and reptiles 
(15,000 specimens), mammals (14,500 
specimens), and birds (37,000 
specimens). The research collections 
of Minnesota fresh-water mollusks has 
recently been expanded and now ranks 
with the region's very best. The Bell 
Museum also has smaller specialized 
collections such as our collection of 
Mexican birds, and mammals from 
Mexico and the Philippines. 
The collections at the Bell Museum 
provide a record of Minnesota's 
biological diversity through time and 
from place to place. Each specimen in 
our collection is labeled with the date 
of its collection and where it was 
found. This information allows 
biologists to follow the expansion or 
contraction of a species' range over 
time. 
The collections can serve an important 
function as a yardstick for measuring 
environmental change. For instance, in 
the 1950's biologists turned to 
museum collections for the answer to 
the decline in numbers of birds of prey. 
Eggs preserved before World War II 
made it possible to conclude that DDT 
in the food chain was causing egg-shell 
thinning and reproductive failure 
through interference with calcium 
metabolism. 
This example shows that museum 
collecting can never be finished. 
Collections must be maintained not 
only to monitor environmental change, 
but evolutionary change as well. 
Remarkably, evolutionary change has 
proceeded fast enough in some species 
to produce observable changes over a 
human life-span. By keeping a record of 
species from different locales, the 
museum collection can verify what 
changes have taken place and the time 
and place of the changes. 
The collections of the Bell Museum are 
Bell Museum of Natural History 
University of Minnesota 
10 Church Street S.E. 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 
an important resource to the state and 
region, and like rare books they must 
be cared for. Visitors to the Bell 
Museum's bird and mammal ranges will 
be quick to note improvements in 
storage facilities. Grants from the 
National Science Foundation and the 
Institute of Museum Services have 
funded purchase of up-to-date 
cabinets. Another effort at improving 
collections involves computerization 
of information about every specimen. 
Computers will link up major 
collections so biologists may retrieve 
information from not only the Bell 
Museum, but from other collections as 
well. 
Our changing environment requires 
that collections be maintained, 
enhanced, and utilized. They are our 
barometer for environmental and 
evolutionary change. The state of the 
curator's art, often stereotyped as 
unchanging, is indeed changing, in the 
Bell Museum and in museums 
throughout the country. 
Nonprofit Org. 
U.S. Postage 
PAID 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
Permit No. 155 
James Ford Bell Volume N, No. 4 Fall 1987 
Museum of Natural History 
Foreign Field 
Appreciating Biologi 
by Frank Barnwell 
~BOANGA! Fabled Philippine city 
of the South Seas. Gateway to the Sulu 
Archipelago. Historic haven for pirates 
and smugglers. Eastern bastion of the 
Islamic religion. And a treasure trove of 
marine life where exotic creatures of 
the Indian Ocean mingle with those of 
the Western Pacific. Questions about 
the geographical distributions of 
fiddler crabs had drawn me to this 
region of emerald green seas that are a 
cauldron of organic evolution. As I 
threaded my way through the maze of 
elevated boardwalks that are the 
"streets" of the Moslem stilt village at 
Zamboanga, a commanding young man 
stepped from a doorway to challenge 
my passage: "What do you want with 
the people here?" I explained my 
mission to collect and study the rich 
assemblage of crabs on the tidal flats 
beneath the village. This answer was 
unsatisfactory to him. ''You say that 
you are a scientist but you are no 
different from tourists who come only 
to satisfy their personal interest. The 
role of the scientist is to improve the 
life of the people. What do you think of 
the life of these people?" I was too 
close to the destination that had drawn 
me from afar to be diverted by a 
political debate and so I offered 
another explanation-that my 
collections might help to show if the 
life forms of Zamboanga were different 
from those of other islands of the 
Philippines. This time my response was 
acceptable. "Of course the animals are 
different, as are we, the people of this 
place." 
I thought of this brief exchange when I 
was asked to introduce the four diverse 
accounts of foreign field research in 
this issue of IMPRINT. In each of these 
studies comparisons are made between 
what is familiar to us and what is exotic 
and different. The broader aim is no 
less than to understand the biodiversity 
of our planet and, thereby, the forces 
that guide the evolution of life. Thus, 
Gwen Brewer seeks to clarify the 
breeding behavior of ducks by 
Research to 2 
Research from 1 
examining an unusual species of the 
Argentine pampas. Susan Cooper 
explores the social life of tropical 
coatis, which differs so radically from 
that of their more solitary temperate 
zone relatives, the raccoons. David 
Blockstein describes the Samoan palolo 
harvest, an ancient ritual that reaffirms 
a connection to animals and the sea so 
foreign to westerners. Finally, Kevin 
Winker has sought to understand the 
survival tactics of "our" migrant 
songbirds on their overwintering 
grounds in the rain forest of eastern 
Mexico. 
Overshadowing the excitement of 
foreign field research is an all too 
common reality-the sobering 
first-hand encounter with massive 
habitat destruction that can threaten 
the survival of the very diversity that 
we strive to understand. As Kevin 
Winker points out, many of the idyllic 
settings of earlier travel literature have 
vastly changed. Even exotic 
Zamboanga has been transformed by 
the modern plagues of overpopulation, 
pollution, the heedless extraction of 
natural resources for foreign markets 
and civil war. One of the great and 
pressing challenges of our time was 
encapsulated in my confrontation in 
the stilt village at Zamboanga-how to 
meet the immediate needs of 
impoverished people while at the same 
time practicing a conservation ethic 
that will preserve the elements of their 
unique biological heritage. Indeed, 
Professor E.O. Wilson of Harvard and 
others have argued that a society's 
biological heritage should be as much a 
legacy for future generations as its 
human history of government, religion, 
art, and technology. The four accounts 
that follow provide a fascinating 
sampling of the scope of this natural 
heritage that enriches all of us as global 
citizens . .:I 
Frank Barnwell is Professor and Head 
of the Department of Ecology and 
Behavioral Biology. He notes that 
foreign field research can be 
ego-boosting as well as intellectually 
rewarding. "At least one small boy on 
the island of Mindanao was 
convinced that I was Kareem 
AbdulJabbar. How could I deny such 
heady acclaim? I set down my field 
pack, spun, and tossed an imaginary 
skyhook toward the Sulu Sea " 
2 
How a Midwestern Boy Caine to be 
Eating Blue Marine Wonns on a 
Tropical Island in the South Pacific. 
by David E. Blockstein 
David Blockstein ( far right) and his Samoan family pose on the beach at Papa after the palolo 
harvest. 
f romJuly to December, 1986, I 
searched for the rare tooth-billed 
pigeon in Wes tern Samoa. In addition 
to the pigeon, which I found only after 
considerable searching, I also found a 
nation of loving and beautiful 
Polynesian people who preserve the 
rich culture of their ancestors. 
In the course of my research I lived 
with the Samoan family of Lotu Ofisa in 
the village of Asau on the western end 
of Savai'i, the larger and more rural of 
the two main islands of Western Samoa. 
I joined with my family in many 
activities. One of the most fascinating 
was the harvesting of palolo. These 
marine worms rise from the coral reef 
to spawn in the shallow water on only 
one or two nights a year. The following 
excerpt from my journal describes the 
ancient tradition of harvesting and 
eating palolo. 
Friday, 24 October, 1986 
This was the long-awaited day of the 
palolo. Palolo are marine 
invertebrates--long, thin, segmented 
worms. On the seventh day after the 
full moon in October or November, in 
the predawn hours, the palolo rise up 
from the coral reef to mate near the 
surface of the sea. The rising worms are 
actually the tail ends of the palolo. The 
adult head sections remain securely 
hidden in tunnels they have gnawed in 
the coral reef. Responding to 
environmental cues, the adults 
simultaneously release their sexual tail 
ends from the reefs. The female ends 
are filled with turquoise-green eggs, 
the male ends with red-brown sperm. 
Attracted by chemical signals, the male 
and female tail sections release sperm 
and eggs to be fertilized on the water 
surface. 
For centuries Samoans have predicted 
the date and hour of this 
lunar-synchronized emergence. In the 
old days, it was a holiday. People didn't 
work, they just gathered palolo, ate, 
and rested. Even today, palolo are 
considered a great delicacy and the 
harvest is a big event here-it has been 
announced on the radio all week. 
The palolo will spawn on two 
consecutive days, peaking on Friday 
this year. In my family, the physical 
preparation for palolo seemed to begin 
at the last minute-after dinner 
Wednesday. That night, the whole 
family was busy making nets. Green 
branches had been cut, bent, and tied 
into a loop shape. A piece of 
store-bought netting was sewn around 
the loop and the open side was sewn 
shut to form a conical net. The seams 
were sewn by hand and with an old 
Two Samoans wearing traditional ulas ( flower necklaces) fill their nets with palolo in the 
dawn light. 
manually-powered sewing machine. 
Most nets are three to six decimeters 
long ( one to two feet) and one to two 
decimeters across ( three to six inches) 
at the mouth. Ofisa says it is most 
important that the nets be deep so that 
the palolo can swim down into the net 
when it is dragged through the water. 
The old Samoans made a net from the 
dried base of coconut fronds, which 
has a net-like texture. The coconut 
frond nets are largely a thing of the 
past-even Ofisa doesn't know how to 
make them. He is 4 7 years old and still 
preserves many of the Samoan 
traditional crafts, such as braiding 
sennit rope from the strings of coconut 
husks. 
In addition to preparing the nets, other 
people prepared the ulas. Similar to the 
Hawaiian leis, ulas are flowers strung 
together and worn around the neck. 
They are worn at ceremonial events 
including fiafias ( village parties) and 
for greeting and sending off guests. For 
ceremonies, matais (chiefs) wear a 
special ula made from a red fruit. For 
palolo, the best ula is made from the 
flower of the moso'oi tree ( Canangra 
odoratum ). The flower is extremely 
fragrant and has yellowish-green bracts 
(like petals) about eight centimeters 
long ( three inches). The fragrance of 
the flower is supposed to attract the 
palolo. Ulas of moso'oi were made 
especially for me-by a relative of the 
family and by my Samoan brother Laki. 
Today we got up at 3:00 a.m. and by 
4:00 a.m. reached the beautiful village 
of Papa with its traditional Samoan fales 
( thatch-roofed houses) and white sand 
beach. The sky was clear, with about 
half a moon watching over the sea. The 
roads were packed with people 
carrying woven coconut frond baskets, 
plastic buckets, and nets. 
In the moonlight, I watched 400-500 
people stretched out along the 
kilometer-long white sand beach. They 
strode in to the water with flower ulas 
around their necks, wearing t-shirts 
and wrap-around lavalavas raised to 
mid-thigh height. Some, especially the 
younger ones, ran in to the water 
occassionally shouting out a whoop of 
excitement. 
Soon my Samoan sister Siutu said that it 
was time for me to go in. I took back 
my net, which my 9-year-old brother 
Mavaega had swiped, borrowed Siutu's 
sandals, and strode in to the sea 
wielding my net. I waved my net in 
front of me as I walked and suddenly 
there was a small wad of foot-long thin 
worms wriggling inside. I waded out 
from shore, chest-deep in the water. I 
revelled in my temporary 
anonymity-a bearded palagi 
( caucasian) among the Samoans, who 
were so intent on their pursuit that 
they did not notice me, or did not 
bother to query about who I am, where 
I lived, and how many people are in my 
family, as is the usual practice. A few 
people said "Malo" - a simple 
greeting. That was all. 
Another sign of the intensity of event 
was that few people asked me to 
photograph them-Samoans love to 
have their pictures taken. I lined the 
family up for a group photo, but one 
person was missing and before he 
could be found, half the family was 
back in the water straining to capture 
the last dregs of the annual event. The 
palolo stop rising by dawn and quickly 
rot in the sea in the morning light. We 
did pretty well-about eight gallons. 
We left for home in my pickup, a happy 
group. 
Do palolo taste like worms? I don't 
know, I've never eaten a worm, 
although I guess I've come close 
enough now. Fortunately, I didn't think 
about my stomach when I looked 
down at the blue worms. As I'm able to 
do quite often here, I just ate. Palolo 
have a strong flavor: slightly salty, sort 
of acidic and astringent with a mushy 
but gritty texture. The flavor was too 
strong to hold them in my mouth for 
too long. I ate mine with boiled 
ta'amou (giant taro), the blandest food 
around. 
The traditional way to prepare the 
palolo is to take a fist-sized wad and 
wrap them in a large leaf. Two kinds of 
leaves are used: the lau fatu ( that 
means heart-shaped leaf), and the fa'i 
vao (wild banana), a huge 
banana-shaped leaf, which makes a 
great emergency umbrella. These 
leaves are chosen for their lack of 
flavor. Nothing to detract from the 
flavor of the palolo. Next, the ball of 
palolo in its leaf is wrapped in a 
breadfruit leaf, which has an irregular 
shape, a long sturdy midvein, and stem, 
which is tucked under the midvein to 
keep the ball intact. 
The ball of palolo plus leaves is placed 
on the umu-the traditional 
above-ground rock oven. A fire is built 
over loaf-sized lava rocks. The rocks 
are heated, the fire is knocked away, 
the food is placed on the hot rocks and 
covered with large leaves, usually 
Paloloto4 
3 
Palolo worms. 
Palolo from 3 
banana, and old pandanus mats. The 
result is that the food is baked. Most of 
the palolo ball turns turquoise-green 
and gets mushy, but the pieces of 
palolo maintain their individual 
integrity. It is about the color of bright 
spinach. 
I asked Ofisa if there was any other way 
to prepare palolo. He said that the old 
men and women put the palolo in the 
ground for three days. When it really 
smelled bad, they ate it. Ofisa can't 
stand the smell. Most modern Samoans 
would not touch these foods. The 
Samoans used to prepare a number of 
foods, such as shark fins, by 
fermentation in the ground, but that's 
another dying custom. 
This afternoon I got a letter from Grace 
B~ckus, an octogenerian birdwatching 
friend. She added as a postscript, "Is 
food frightfully different? Maybe." Yes, 
Grace, the food is frightfully different 
here. But, you should have been here 
50 or 100 years ago . .:I 
DavidE Blockstein bas a Ph.D. in 
Ecology and Behavioral Biology and 
is currently a postdoctoral associate 
in t~e D~partment of Wildlife Ecology, 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 
4 
The Chiloe Wigeon of Argentina 
Cradle-robbing and Biparental Care 
by Gwen Brewer 
Western Patagonia, located in 
southwestern Argentina, is a vast and 
beautiful land. Condors soar overhead 
in the late afternoon, heading for their 
roosts on craggy rock faces individually 
named by local Indians. Puma and 
mountain cat search for prey across the 
flat-topped mesetas (mesas). The 
Andes rise up in the distance by the 
shores of cool blue lakes, some of them 
the home of flamingos and 
black-necked swans. The nearby steppe 
supports vast numbers of sheep and the 
rugged gauchos that tend them. The 
remnants of a forest, petrified into a 
new array of colors, lie in contrast to 
the low scrub growth of the 
countryside and the cloudless blue of 
the sky. Shy llama-like guanacos, and 
rheas, cousins of ostriches, can be 
found away from the roads, where the 
true immensity of windswept 
Patagonia is overwhelming. 
Why travel to Argentina and, in the 
midst of all of these natural wonders 
study a species of duck? Continue o~ 
and you '11 see that the Chiloe wigeon, 
my study animals, are a wonder 
A female Chiloe widgeon and ducklings. 
Also ~own~ pato Picasso(Picasso duck), 
the widgeon s colorful name derives from 
themselves, especially in the field of 
animal behavior .... 
The Wigeon 
Llke many South American animals 
Chiloe wigeon have been little studied 
and many aspects of their biology are 
unknown. Their distribution extends 
from Tierra del Fuego to southern 
Brazil; they migrate in winter to the 
northern part of this range. The Chiloe 
wigeon is one of the species of 
Southern Hemisphere dabbling ducks 
in which biparental care ( care of the 
young by both parents) is suspected. 
Biparental care has not been seen in 
the two northern wigeon species nor 
for any other Northern Hemisphere 
dabbling ducks, but it has long been 
noted that male Chiloe wigeon are very 
parental in captivity. I, too, first 
observed this unusual behavior in 
captivity and decided to study it in the 
wild. 
My study in Argentina focuses on what 
male parents do for their ducklings and 
why the parental care system of the 
Wigeonto5 
the shades of black, white and rusty-orange 
so often used by Picasso and found in the 
widgeon's plumage. 
1 
Wigeon from 4 
Chiloe wigeon is so different from that 
of its close relatives, the North 
American and Eurasian wigeon. 
Through this research, I hope to 
contribute to our understanding of the 
evolution ofbiparental care for all 
waterfowl species in which it occurs. I 
also hope to contribute to the 
conservation of this species and its 
environment. Respect for wildlife is 
not very common in Argentina, but 
several concerned groups, such as the 
Wildlife Foundation, National Parks, 
and Ornithology Association, are 
working through public education to 
secure appreciation and support for 
Argentina's great natural wealth. 
The Research 
From November1986 to February 
1987 I carried out my research on a 
small lake called Laguna Los Juncos 
("Reed Lake") about 35 miles east of 
the town of San Carlos de Bariloche 
(Bariloche for short). Bariloche sits on 
the shore of a huge lake (Lago Nahuel 
Huapi ), with the Andes rising up 
behind the city. It is a popular tourist 
town with the portenos ( residents of 
Buenos Aires) escaping the summer 
heat further north, or with European 
skiers taking advantage of the opposite 
seasons of the Northern and Southern 
Hemispheres. This area has a temperate 
climate, as it is almost as far south of 
the equator as we are north. Annual 
precipitation here drops from 
moderate to low along the mountain 
rain shadow. 
I observed six families of Chiloe 
wigeon at Laguna Los Juncos and near 
Bariloche. I discovered that male 
parents were especially active in 
looking for predators, giving alarm 
calls, and keeping other ducks away 
from their broods. Families remained 
in close contact and ducklings even 
greeted their parents when they 
returned after a separation. Families 
spent most of their time in the lake, 
feeding off the floating mat of water 
weeds. I suspect that the use of this 
very open habitat in an area with many 
avian predators is one of the important 
factors selecting for biparental care in 
the Chiloe wigeon. 
Although field work is always 
rewarding, it is not always easy or 
predictable. In mid-January, Laguna Los 
Juncos completely dried up---for the 
first time in 40 years! The wigeon 
ducklings could not fly yet, so the 
families walked up to two and a half 
miles to the nearest water sources--an 
impressive journey for ducks! 
I too was forced to change my location 
and as I continued to observe the 
wigeon, they continued to get more 
interesting. When ducklings were as 
young as two and a half weeks old, 
unpaired adult male wigeon performed 
Laguna Los Juncos. 
displays to the ducklings that are used 
to attract a mate and also tried to get 
stray ducklings away from their family 
groups. Now don't get disgusted; 
remember that they are ducks, not 
people! This behavior was very 
surprising because courtship in other 
dabbling ducks does not occur until at 
least several months later, and the 
courtship of females before they can fly 
has never been reported. 
At first, ducklings rejected the courting 
males and the intolerant parents 
chased the males away. However, 
when the broods were about 8 weeks 
old, female ducklings began to form 
bonds with their suitors. A few weeks 
later permanent pairs had formed that 
consisted of an adult male and a young, 
still downy female. 
I look forward to further 
documentation of this highly unusual 
behavior when I return to Argentina in 
November 1987. I also look forward to 
renewed contact with the many helpful 
and knowledgable Argentinians that I 
have met, and with whom I share a 
love, respect, and concern for the 
natural beauty of their country. I can 
almost hear the musical calls of the 
bandurrias (buff-necked ibis) now ..... 
Gwen Brewer is a graduate student in 
Ecology and Behavioral Biology who 
studies social behavior in ducks. 
5 
Kevin Winker radio-tracking wood thrushes in Mexico. 
Twenty years ago an article with this 
title could have been a rosy portrait of 
winter bird life in the tropics amongst 
colorful people and tourist attractions. 
Today the components of this portrait 
no longer dwell in harmony, and the 
practices of the colorful people are 
seriously jeopardizing the winter bird 
life. 
Fully 51 % of the avifauna of the United 
States (332 of 650 species)winter in 
the Neotropics ( the New World 
tropics). One-third of these spend their 
winters in Neotropical forests. The 
6 
greatest concentration of these 
wintering birds occurs between the 
Isthmus ofTehuantepec (in southern 
Mexico) and northwestern Colombia. 
This region also happens to be one of 
great social and economic unrest, 
largely due to rapid population growth. 
Under extreme population pressures, 
many Latin American countries are 
being forced to expand their 
agricultural lands, usually at the 
expense of their forests. Added 
pressure is caused by the prestige 
attached to raising cattle. Impetuous 
deforestation has been accelerated 
with the widespread introduction of 
the chainsaw, and it is not uncommon 
now to see fields and pastures on 60 
degree slopes---lands totally unsuited 
for agriculture. One would think that 
common sense would prevail, and that 
slopes this steep would be left forested 
( after all, a farmer could be seriously 
injured falling out of his cornfield), but 
subsistence farmers continue to push 
or be pushed into the remaining 
forested areas. Projections based upon 
current rates of cutting indicate that 
little, if any, forest will be left in 
Mexico and Central America by the 
year 2000. 
One of the looming questions is what 
effects this deforestation will have on 
the migratory songbirds that utilize 
forests during the winter. For 16 
months over the past five winters I 
have been doing research in southern 
Mexico in an effort to answer this 
question. In a project funded by the 
World Wildlife Fund and headed by Dr. 
John Rappole and Dr. Mario Ramos, I 
have worked with the wood thrush, a 
species that seems to prefer lowland 
rain forest for its winter quarters. 
Our work has taken us to the 
northernmost rainforest in the western 
hemisphere-the forests of Los 
Tuxtlas, an isolated volcanic range on 
the Gulf of Mexico, immediately 
northwest of the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec. Earlier work in the area 
showed that wood thrushes held 
individual territories, defending them 
from all other wood thrushes, male or 
female, and that often the same bird 
would return to the same territory 
from winter to winter. By using 2.0 
gram radio transmitters ( about the 
weight of a dime) to track individual 
birds, we have since found that 
conditions are very crowded in the 
little lowland forest that is left, and 
there simply isn't enough space for all 
the birds to hold territories. Those that 
can't find a space of their own to 
defend are forced to move about from 
place to place, and mortality seems 
higher among these birds. This 
suggests that as the forested area 
continues to decline, and fewer birds 
are able to find and hold territories, 
population-wide mortality will 
increase, leaving fewer birds to return 
north to breed in the spring. 
This finding does not bode well for the 
wood thrush, or for many other species 
that have similar winter habitat 
requirements. Although no proof exists 
that there are fewer songbirds coming 
north to breed each year, many 
long-time birdwatchers have the 
impression that numbers are far below 
what they were only a decade ago. 
From our work I would predict that in 
the next 20 years we will see 
precipitous declines in the populations 
of several migrant songbirds and the 
extinction of many tropical resident 
species as well. 
During most of my Mexican work I 
lived in the small village of La" 
Peninsula, an isolated community of 
subsistence farmers whose fields were 
cut from the surrounding forest. I 
found these people to be very hard 
working, helpful, and friendly. They 
understand our concern for and 
interest in the wild things of the forest 
and they enjoy being shown things we 
find. Unfortunately, they cannot hold 
our concerns as their own at the 
expense of their well being. Life is 
difficult at La Peninsula, as it is in 
countless similar villages throughout 
Latin America, and their own 
continued survival dictates that these 
people wrest from the land whatever 
living they can. Those conservation 
measures that are undertaken by the 
governments of these countries tend to 
be of the "too little, too late" nature, 
for in these times of economic 
hardship, conservation is not a priority 
issue.~ 
Kevin Winker is a graduate student in 
the Department of Ecology and 
Behavioral Biology studying migrant 
passerines (perching birds). 
A corn field planted in freshly clear-cut 
rainforest. 
The Coatis of Panama 
Clever Cousins of Raccoons 
by Susan Cooper 
Most Minnesotans are familiar with 
the four-legged masked bandits, 
pilferers of many a garbage can, known 
as raccoons; but their more southerly 
cousins, coatimundis (pronounced 
ko-aw-tee-mun-dees ), are less well 
known. Coatimundis, or coatis for 
short, live throughout most of South 
and Central America, and even as far 
north as Arizona and New Mexico. Like 
the opportunistic raccoon, coatis 
survive in a number of different 
habitats from dense tropical jungle, to 
cool cloud forest, to the scrubby 
semi-arid hills of south-western 
Arizona. Physically they resemble a 
somewhat sleeker, taller raccoon, with 
a long, mobile snout, and a very long, 
ringed tail which they usually carry 
straight up in the air. An adult female 
weighs about eight pounds and a male 
perhaps twelve. 
y 
Coatis are well adapted to their 
opportunistic mode of life. They are 
excellent climbers, and will balance 
precariously on slender branches or in 
the tops of palm trees in search of ripe 
fruit. Their sensitive noses can detect 
tasty morsels burrowing under inches 
of earth or rotting log, and they will dig 
seven or eight inches with their 
powerful claws and come up with a 
Coatis to 8 
7 
Coatis from 7 
juicy tarantula or a crunchy beetle. 
They will eat lizards or agoutis ( a 
rodent about the size of a large rat), 
when they can catch them, birds' eggs, 
and even carrion if they get hungry 
enough. They are well armed: an adult 
male coati may sport canines up to an 
inch long. Indeed, coatis have earned a 
bad reputation in many parts of the 
southwestern United States because 
they are brave enough to turn on 
harassing hunting dogs, and are tough 
enough to win the fight, a tendency 
which fails to endear them to the dogs' 
owners. 
Francis Lee Jaques' Coatis. Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History. 
Barro Colorado Island, Panama: An 
Island of Research 
Halfway along the Panama Canal lies 
the wildlife sanctuary of Barro 
Colorado Island. The moist tropical 
forest of the island is comprised of 
some 1,300 plant species. The high 
humidity and the hanging lianas 
(vines) can make following coatis a 
tangled nightmare, especially when 
they decide that it's time to lose the 
pesky researcher that's been following 
them about all day. Coatis share this 
home with a vast array of wildlife: 
toucans and tapirs, howler monkeys, 
boa constrictors, anolis lizards, white 
faced monkeys, poisonous fer-de-lance, 
ocelots, iguanas, tayras, and usually 18 
to 2 5 slightly batty field biologists who 
spend their days ( and all too often their 
nights) creeping among the ticks and 
chiggers in pursuit of a better 
understanding of the island's plants and 
animals. 
The Social Coati 
What makes coatis particularly 
fascinating to study isn't just their 
cleverness or their versatility, but their 
social ways. Sociality is relatively rare 
among carnivores. Of the roughly 250 
species of terrestrial carnivores, only 
about 20 live in large, stable social 
groups; these 20 species include 
wolves, spotted hyaenas, dwarf 
mongooses, lions-and of course 
coatis. Coatis are the only social 
Procyonid ( member of the raccoon 
family), and indeed they have a social 
system which is unique among social 
carnivores. Comprised of two to five 
adult females and their young of the 
past two years, a band of coatis may 
number as many as twenty-five, though 
seven to fifteen is more common. In 
contrast, adult males are solitary, and 
are allowed to join the group only 
during the three to four weeks of the 
breeding season. And "allowed" is the 
right word: during the rest of the year, 
females are very aggressive towards 
males, and an inquisitive male who 
doesn't heed a cub's squeak or a 
female's warning grunt may find two or 
three mothers charging him with bared 
teeth. 
Coatis may derive a number of benefits 
from sociality. As a group they may 
better protect themselves from 
predators like ocelot and jaguar. Even 
male coatis have been known to kill 
and eat juvenile coatis, and this may be 
why females exclude males. Although 
there is little overt aggression between 
bands, grouping may be one strategy 
for maintaining a home range with 
Bell Museum of Natural History 
University of Minnesota 
10 Church Street S.E. 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 
University Archives 
10 Walter Library 
CAMPUS MAIL 
good food resources or nesting sites. 
Females may aid each other in the 
raising of juveniles by increasing the 
vigilance on curious young coatis who 
might stray from the safety of the group 
or even through communal suckling. 
And removal of external parasites, like 
ticks and bot flies, through mutual 
grooming may help to keep the animals 
in good condition. Which of these 
factors have been most important in 
the evolution of coati sociality is still 
unknown. 
Whatever the reasons behind their 
sociality, coatis are marvelous 
creatures to watch, whether they're 
performing acrobatic feats, sifting 
through the litter on the forest floor for 
insects, or stepping carefully over the 
treddle of a trap to steal the bait. 
Raccoons have long been the subject of 
persecution for their pelts and their 
tendency to take advantage of any 
available food, like corn or unattended 
chickens, and coatis suffer from the 
same general disdain. But it seems to 
me that such clever, intelligent, and 
versatile animals deserve at the very 
least our grudging respect . .:I 
Susan Cooper is a graduate student 
studying the evolution of sociality 
and communication in coatis. 
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.J