FACE TO FACE WITH DINOSAURS

The Magazine of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyOctober and November 2016

Over the summer, I joined the Museum’s Dinosaur

Institute on an expedition to dig for dinosaur bones

buried in the Utah desert. As a geologist, I was thrilled

to pick up a chisel and see the fossils of giant animals

that lived 150 million years ago slowly emerge from

rocks before my eyes. In this issue of the Naturalist,

you’ll read about what NHM’s crew discovered there

and how paleontologists, volunteers, and students

worked together toward a common purpose — to

share that sense of wonder and discovery with you.

Visitors to NHM will get up close to those ancient

specimens in the Dino Lab. Every time I walk by, I see

young visitors watching in awe as Museum paleon-

tologists and volunteers whisk sandstone from the

bones of long-necked dinosaurs and prepare the fossils

for study. The information they record is helping

researchers around the world answer questions about

how dinosaurs evolved.

Many of the fossils that were procured on earlier

Dinosaur Institute expeditions are now on display in

the Museum’s Jane G. Pisano Dinosaur Hall. The extra-

ordinary exhibition, which marks its fifth anniversary

this year, was designed to engage visitors with the

Museum’s research through its preeminent displays.

Visitors of all ages are marveling at the gigantic and

authentic fossils, including the world’s only Tyrannosaurus

rex growth series, starring a remarkably complete young

adult T. rex named Thomas. NHM is the West Coast hub

for dinosaurs. There is no other institution nearby that

combines our research and collections, ongoing fieldwork,

and a state-of-the-art exhibition. If you haven’t visited

in a while, I invite you to stop in, come face-to-face with

giants, and share your experience with us.

2 Briefs

4 NHM's Fossil HuntersGo Back to the Badlands

10 Halloween Is Coming

13 Spider Pavilion Opens

14 Dig This: Our New Tar Pits Expert

15 The Gift of Expertise

16 Events

Image: Cover: José Soler, NHM Paleontological Preparator, in the Utah quarry brushing sediment from the femur of a sauropod, a long-necked dinosaur. Credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

The Naturalist magazine is a publication of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and is issued six times a year. As a Member benefit, each issue provides a look at Museum exhibits, collections, adventures, research, and events. Through them, we inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds.

Dinosaurs, Up Close

Institutional Partner

Signature Sponsor

Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga President and Director

Open through Sunday, October 16The outdoor living habitat features increased flight space and better viewing opportunities for 25 species of free-flying butterflies.

Free for Members. Timed-tickets required. RSVP by calling 213.763.3499 or visit NHM.ORG/butterflies.

Through Sunday, December 11Member Preview Days are Friday, October 28, and Saturday, October 29.

Free for Members with timed-tickets. Visit NHM.ORG/spiders for more information.

Butterflies and Spiders Get a New Home

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

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Anyone interested in the history of

life — from paleontologists to inquisi-

tive birders — will find the new book,

Birds of Stone: Chinese Avian Fossils in

the Age of Dinosaurs, a feast for the

eyes and mind. In the book, Dr. Luis

Chiappe, NHM’s Vice President of

Research and Collections, the Dinosaur

Institute’s Director, and a world expert

on early birds, and Meng Qingjin, a

leading figure in China's natural history

museum community, introduce this

sweeping collection of exceptionally

preserved fossils for the first time.

Filled with 184 large-format

photographs, Birds of Stone brings into

view the scientific significance of a bird

menagerie that thrived in northeastern

China between 120 and 131 million

years ago, just a short time (geologi-

cally speaking) after a dinosaur lineage

gave rise to the first birds. The book,

published by Johns Hopkins University

Press, will be available in November.

In the meantime, bird-loving NHM

visitors will discover other ancient

flyers on display in the Dinosaur Hall.

BIRDS OF STONE

For more information and to order the book, visit press.jhu.edu.

Get your copy in the Museum Store! Available in November.

Image by Deniz Durmus.

A vintage car in NHM’s collection

recently cruised into the Pebble Beach

Concours D’Elegance — the most prestigious auto-

motive event in the country — to strut its struts.

The American Underslung, which was donated to

the Museum in 1937, was an automotive engineering

breakthrough in its day. It got its name because

the manufacturer, the Stutz Motor Car Company,

turned the car’s innards upside down; the body

was underneath the wheelbase. That flipped design

made for a much more comfortable ride. In 1930s

California, the sporty car’s popularity took off

because it could be driven with the top down.

To see this and other Hollywood memorabilia, visit HARTMUSEUM.ORG for more information.

Visit TARPITS.ORG for more information.

Natural History Family of Museums

La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

Tar Pits Data Mining One of the biggest challenges for

museums in the 21st century is the

digitization of their collections.

At the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum,

paleontologists have been cataloging

fossils into archival ledgers for the

past hundred years. Now the collec-

tions staff and volunteers have been

busy entering these paper records

into the Museum’s database. Thus far

they have captured almost 400,000

records with quite a few more to go!

Having digital records not only

helps to manage such an enormous

collection, but it also makes those

records freely available for global

research. Museum collections contain

vital information connecting our past,

present, and future, and are held

in the public trust. Imagine a world

where the possibilities for Museum

education, engagement and research

are just a click away.

William S. Hart Museum

A Shielded HartMany visitors walk right past this

shield on the wall of the William

S. Hart Museum, thinking it’s just

another decoration. In actuality, it is

a piece of history that is linked to a

recent remake of a blockbuster movie.

The shield was from the very first

Broadway production of Ben-Hur in

1899, staring silent film star William

S. Hart in the role of Messala. The

story is about a Jew persecuted by

the Roman Empire during the time

of Christ. The play was a smashing

success and a massive undertaking.

They even constructed a large tread-

mill-like contraption in order to bring

real horses and chariots into the

theater. It was a production unlike

any audiences had ever seen before.

Hart later reprised the role in the

1907 Sidney Olcott unauthorized

Ben-Hur film — one of many retellings

of the famous Biblical blockbuster.

By Dave Paul

Your Chariot Is

Waiting

An A MERIC AN

Classic

For more about L.A. cars and culture, visit

the Becoming Los Angeles exhibition!

The American Underslung is one of about

60 cars and a dozen motorcycles in the Museum’s

History Collection, and each has its own road-trip

tales to tell. Visitors will see two of them on display

in the Becoming Los Angeles exhibition. One is an

automotive time machine of sorts — the 1902 Tourist.

As the sole survivor from the company’s first year of

operation, the 114-year-old car is the earliest vehicle

manufactured in L.A. Also parked in the exhibition

is a studio process auto body which was designed

so actors could be filmed while appearing to drive in

a particular locale, such as in a city or on a country

outing. Cruise into NHM and hop in.

Among the surprises in NHM’s History Collection

is a cache of film artifacts, and two from Ben-Hur

are on display in Becoming Los Angeles. The story

of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew persecuted by the Roman

Empire during the time of Christ, began as a novel,

then hit the Broadway stage, and has been made

into five films since 1907, including one this year.

On display in a glass case in the exhibition is a leather

tunic that Ramon Novarro (portraying Ben-Hur)

wore during the chariot race scene in the 1925

movie, one of the most dangerous and thrilling

action sequences captured on film. There is also

a wool tunic worn by Charlton Heston in the 1959

film during his triumphant entry into Rome. Visitors

to exhibition will be able to catch these classic

costumes through the end of 2016.

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T H E U TA H Q U A R R YA crew of Museum scientists,

researchers, students, and volunteers

went back to the Utah badlands this

summer, where they punched through

rocks in sweltering heat to extract

bones of dinosaurs buried in what

was a riverbed 150 million years ago.

If these Dinosaur Institute

expeditions were a movie, they’d have

the same dramatic narrative arc — the

physical toil of excavation, the thrill

of discovery, and the return of the

fossils back to the Museum where a

new story literally unfolds every day.

“Every expedition creates

excitement because you go to

uncharted land,” says Dinosaur

Institute Director Dr. Luis Chiappe,

who oversees them. “And you

never know exactly what you’ll find.”

The quarry, located in south-

eastern Utah, is cinematic terrain —

a landscape of tan-and-wine-colored

hills dotted with truck-sized boulders

of sandstone. As soon as Chiappe’s

30-person crew set their boots down

this summer, they grabbed their

gear and set to work demolishing the

concrete-like rock. They used hammers

and chisels to dislodge smaller patches

of stone, tiny dental picks for the fine

work around the fossils, glue to

stabilize and protect the bones, and

brooms to sweep up the rocky debris.

To make their Jurassic prizes ready for

transport, they trenched around and

underneath the bones and protected

the fossils with tissue and plaster

“jackets.” Every bone was mapped on a

gridded sheet so that the relationship

of the fossils to one another was

documented for posterity. Scientists

also collected the details of the sedi-

ments that entombed the bones and

took samples of the rocks for dating.

Weeks after this Haaga Dinosaur

Expedition began, the team hauled

the cargo back to NHM — an 800-

mile journey. Back at the Museum,

paleontological conservators cracked

open the jackets, carefully whisked

sandstone from the bones, and recorded

information — all to help researchers

around the world understand the

diversity and evolution of dinosaurs

that lived in the Mesozoic Era.

B I G R E V E A LJosé Soler, an NHM paleontological

preparator in charge of this year’s

quarry crew, says despite the heavy

rains, hauling gear in the mud, and

100-plus-degree heat, his mind was

Watch video interviews with the Utah crew at YouTube/nhmla.

Nathan Carroll, a USC graduate student in residence at the Dinosaur Institute, found this drop of 66-million-year-old amber this summer when digging in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. The blood-orange-colored amber, which comes from tree resin, contains an insect that was alive hundreds of thousands of years before dinosaurs went extinct. “This is the only fossil insect found so far that would ever have had a chance to pester T. rex,” Carroll says.

BACK TO THE BADL ANDS

NHM’s Fossil Hunters Go

B E N E AT H T H E VA S T O P E N S K I E S of the Utah and New Mexico deserts are quarries packed with dinosaur bones. Two intrepid Museum teams, familiar with these badlands, returned recently to uncover more surprises.

A number of Museum Trustees and donors joined the expedition, including Paul and Heather Haaga, Karen and Jim Hoffman, Betsy Thumann and family, and Gretchen Augustyn and family.

Fossils Plus Stop into NHM for National Fossil Day, Saturday, October 12! Visit NHM.ORG/calendar for information.

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Museum scientists’ current

thrill, though, is the discovery of

a big portion of the spine — from

the neck through the middle of the

back down to the pelvis — of a long-

necked sauropod dinosaur (picture

a Brontosaurus). The animal’s head

and the tail go into the wall of a tall

hill at both ends, so it potentially

keeps going. Dr. Chiappe hopes the

ancient behemoth is complete,

from snout to the end of its tail.

Dr. Alyssa Bell, a paleontologist

and postdoctoral researcher at the

Dinosaur Institute and a fossil-hunting

veteran, can’t wait to dig into the

quarry again next summer.

“It’s like paleo pick-up sticks

there,” says Bell. “Everything is stacked

on each other in all different angles

and it’ll take a while to unpack it.

It’s incredible.”

While his Museum colleagues were

unearthing Jurassic treasures in the

Utah badlands, Dinosaur Institute

Associate Curator Dr. Nate Smith

and his crew were in the New Mexico

desert excavating the bones of

some of the earliest dinosaurs to

roam the Earth 212 million years ago.

In the spectacular landscape north

of Santa Fe called Ghost Ranch,

made famous by Georgia O’Keefe’s

colorful paintings, Smith and his team

employ tiny dental picks to remove

clay and mudstone from the rocks

that contain evidence of life during

the dawn of the dinosaurs.

Over the years, Museum crews

have collected more than 25,000

specimens from two dozen different

species of animals, including a small

dinosaur and some dinosaur cousins

that have never been found before.

Above: The team prepares to transport the season's collected fossils from the camp in Utah to NHM. Image by Stephanie Abramowicz.

Above graphic shows the relative number of bones of the various kinds

of dinosaurs that have been exca-vated from the Utah quarry.

Illustration by the Dinosaur Institute's Stephanie Abramowicz.

G H O S T R A N C H , N E W M E X I C O

Smith’s biggest discovery to date is

the small theropod Tawa hallae, a find

that helped to flesh out what early

meat-eating dinosaurs looked like.

His team recently discovered

the bones of some odd-looking

animals, including Drepanosaurus,

a big-clawed, chameleon-like reptile.

The newest species added to the

Triassic menagerie is a predatory,

crocodile-like rauisuchid, Vivaron

haydeni. These and the surprises to

come will help Dr. Smith investigate

questions about the early evolution

of dinosaurs, their ecosystem,

their anatomy, and how they grew.

“The big question people

ask you right away when you talk

about dinosaurs is what the world

looked like when they lived,” says

Smith. “We will try to flesh that

out a little more.”

National Fossil DaySaturday, October 12

Celebrate the day by visiting the Dinosaur Hall, which

features more than 300 fossils and 20 full-body specimens, including Thomas the T. rex.

Dino-Themed Overnights

Dino DetectivesOctober 21–22, 6:30 pm–9 am

At this action-packed overnight, your group will be junior paleontologists,

learning all about dinosaurs!

D I N O S AU R S I N T H E H O U S E

millions of years away.

“When I’m working on a fossil,

I’m thinking, ‘what’s the story behind

it? What happened to this animal?

How did it get here?’ That triggers a

story of what happened millions of

years ago and that’s mind-blowing,”

he says. “Then I don’t feel the heat.”

The Dinosaur Institute began

to dig eight years ago in the Gnatalie

quarry, named for the gnats that

pestered the excavators as they

worked. Since then, Museum paleon-

tologists estimate the Jurassic bounty

at more than 400 gargantuan bones,

including those from the skeletons

of five different dinosaur species,

including at least six sauropod

individuals and specimens of ankylo-

saurs (armored dinosaur), ornithopods

(two-legged herbivores), and thero-

pods (think T. rex relatives).

Diplodocoid

Camarasaur

Ankylosaur

Ornithopod

Theropod

J O I N T H E E X C AVAT I O N Watch videos of Museum excavators digging for fossils in the badlands at YOUTUBE/nhmla.

Above from left to right: Associate Curator of the Dinosaur Institute Dr. Nate Smith in the field; the crew in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico; and an illustration by Victor Leshyk of a scene there 212 million years ago that shows early dinosaurs such as the carnivorous dinosaur (in background) were small and rare, whereas other reptiles were quite common. Photos by Nate Smith.

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Maureen Walsh, the Collections

Manager of the Dinosaur Institute,

is very protective of her dinosaurs.

For seven years, the paleontologist

has protected and presided over

the Museum’s world-class collection

of paleontological prizes, both tiny

and monumental.

The DI’s collection boasts more

than 3,000 specimens and encom-

passes a hard-to-fathom period

of time — the 185 million years that

dinosaurs lived on Earth. Inside the

collection room’s cabinets lay fossils,

big and small, from the Triassic

(beginning 252 million years ago) to

the Cretaceous (ending 66 million

years ago). The ancient bones, each

tagged with a location and time period,

include those from the mightiest of

giants — T. rex, Stegosaurus, and others

such as long-necked dinosaurs, which

grew to be 80 feet long. In other

drawers there are four-limbed animals,

including winged reptiles such as

pterosaurs, as well as turtles,

crocodiles, birds, mammals, lizards,

and snakes that were dinosaur

contemporaries.

It’s hard, she says, to pick a

favorite. “As I work through the

collection, I discover new creatures

and it’s like a love affair — you fall

in love with each one,” says Walsh

in her office surrounded by trays

of fossils to be catalogued, plastic

models of pint-sized dinos, and

illustrations of ancient scaly and

feathered creatures. She says one

of the biggest specimens in the

collection is a recently excavated

Jurassic prize: a 600-pound femur

from a long-necked dinosaur that

Museum crew unearthed from the

Gnatalie quarry in Utah. Among

the smallest fossils, she thinks,

are the teeth of the tiniest North

American dinosaur: Fruitadens

haagarorum, a two-pound animal

that feasted on insects and plants.

F R O M F I E L D T O D R AW E RMeticulous management of the

collection at NHM is only part of

Walsh’s job, though. She has also

dug for dinosaur bones in the field.

Beyond excavating and managing the

collection, she prepares specimens

for study. Her particular expertise is

Mesozoic birds. For almost a decade,

she has traveled to China to clean

the delicate bones of 125-million-year-

old birds that she calls perfect flying

machines. Her work helps Dinosaur

Institute Director Dr. Luis Chiappe

shed light on dinosaur evolution.

“Maureen’s skillful conservation

work on this ancient avian menagerie

has revealed a wealth of detailed

information that otherwise would

have remained undetected,” says

Chiappe. “Chip by chip, she has given

shape to many of the building blocks

that support our understanding of

how early birds became the birds

of today.”

Proyecto Dinosaurios is supported by The Ahmanson Foundation.

O U R D I N O SAU R LI B R A R IA N

One of the youngest dinosaurs at the Museum is also the hardest to miss — Thomas, the T. rex, who

towers in the Dinosaur Hall. Museum paleontologists excavated Thomas in Montana from 2003 to 2005.

It is estimated to be a 70-percent-complete specimen, one of 10 of the most complete T. rex specimens on Earth. It was 17 years old when it roamed the planet

66 million years ago and weighed nearly 7,000 pounds when it died. Another fun fact for visitors

who stare up at this colossal teenager: From the tip of the snout to the end of its tail, the skeleton

measures 34 feet — as long as a city bus.

P R I Z ES P E C I M E N S

The Dinosaur Institute’s collection numbers more than 3,000 specimens.

A few standouts:

BIGGEST A 600-pound femur from a long-necked

dinosaur that Museum crews excavated a few years

ago in the Utah quarry.

SMALLEST The teeth of the

tiniest North American dinosaur, Fruitadens

haagarorum.

OLDEST Fossils from an

ichthyosaur (excavated in Nevada) that lived

240 million years ago.

YOUNGEST A long-necked titanosaur from the San Juan Basin,

which experienced blowout from an impact meteor

66 million years ago.

FIND OUR FIRST FOSSIL! Look in the Fossil Wall at the entrance to the Dinosaur Hall for the jaw of a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur).

Above: Maureen Walsh, Collections Manager of the Dinosaur Institute, in her office at the Museum. She's holding a model of Fruitadens haagarorum, the tiniest dinosaur. See them on display in the Dinosaur Hall. Image by Deniz Durmus.

YOUNG THOM A S

Six college students in the Dinosaur Institute’s internship

program, Proyecto Dinosaurios, reminisced recently

about their monumental summer. All science majors at

L.A.-based community colleges, the students were first

shepherded to six National Parks and then three National

Monuments. Then the undergraduates tucked into the

Utah quarry for an intense week of digging for dinosaur

bones with NHM’s team.

“It’s always fun to take people who haven’t experi-

enced it before out in the field for the first time,” says

Dr. Alyssa Bell, a paleontologist and postdoctoral re-

searcher at the Dinosaur Institute who led the desert trek.

“They all were super excited to be there and pitch in.”

“It was really cool,” says Leslie Insixiengmay, a

24-year-old geophysics student at Santa Monica College

who recently transferred to USC. “You see a layer of rock,

but you never know what you’re going to uncover once

you start digging.”

Laughing with the other interns one day recently

at the Museum, Valeria Jaramillo, who is studying geology

at Cerritos College, says fieldwork is not at all like it is

portrayed in the movies. “I watched Jurassic Park after

we got back, and there was a scene with a helicopter

coming down and sand blowing everywhere, and the

whole fossil was right there, nice and neat,” she says,

smiling. “And I thought, that’s not how it works.”

F R O M C L A S S R O O M T O Q U A R R Y

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A MUSEUM THRIVES ON MYTHS AND LEGENDS about mysterious happenings within

its halls that are full of historic objects and specimens. NHM staffers have passed down tales for

generations about all kinds of strange occurrences throughout the Museum — some chilling,

some harmless — but one thing is for sure: If you want ghost stories, we’ve got ’em.

Let’s start with the “Curious Case of the Little Girl.” A group of schoolchildren were visiting

on a field trip in the old Lando Hall of California History. They were doing an activity with their

chaperones in the Times Mirror Room, when some of the kids started to notice a little girl who

was hiding under a table. They tried to coax her out, but she just continued to sit there, crouching.

The kids pointed the girl out to the chaperones, but the adults couldn’t see her, even though the

children insisted she was right there. Now, this could have been a trick played by some school-

kids; but how is it that this happened more than once, in the same area, with different schools?

We may never know.

HALLOWEEN IS COMINGT H E M USE U M ’ S GHO ST S A R E R E A DY

By Rachel Gertz

The most famous of all the ghost tales at

NHM is that of famed NHM and Caltech

paleontologist Chester Stock. It is believed

by many Museum staffers that the ghost

of Chester long haunted the Paleontology

Department on the fourth floor. One

fossil preparator heard keys jangle when

he was alone and saw a shadowy figure

walking about in a green jacket, with

reflections in glass-fronted boxes. He is

confident Chester was just playing “made

you look” and meant no harm. Perhaps

Chester is just trying to get the staff to

work on some of his old fossil specimens.

Or maybe he’s just having some fun in

the afterlife.

Perhaps the most famous Chester

Stock incident (and several people

witnessed it) was the “Case of the Falling

Book.” A staffer had pulled out a box of

fossils that Chester used to work on. The

next morning, a book had fallen off a shelf

located next to the box — and landed on

the ground. No one knows how the book

fell off the shelf — there were no staff

around that night. But the bigger question

was how it landed safely to the side of the

fossils and not on top of them, as it should

have.

So the next time you visit NHM, say

“hi” to Chester and the little girl. Maybe

they’ll say “hi” back, in their own way.

CHESTER NEVER

LEFT

Find out at the Haunted Museum More spooky happenings for all ages

Sleepover: Boo and Goo

Saturday, October 22

Go trick-or-treating at the La Brea Tar Pits

Sleepover: Halloween Mysteries

Friday, October 28

Help solve a mystery at this Halloween

sleepover. Costumes encouraged.

Register online at NHM.ORG/overnights.

Adult All-Nighter: You Are NOT the Father

Saturday, October 29

Learn about the mating habits of bats from

an NHM scientist and dress up to enter our

costume contest. Visit NHM.ORG/sleepovers.

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN

Put your triskaidekaphobia*

aside and try your luck at the

13th annual Haunted Museum!

Sunday, October 23, 5–8 pm

Throw some salt over your shoulder, meet

curators to overcome your superstitions,

and collect good luck charms. Haunted

Museum is for Members at the Naturalist,

Explorer, Adventurer and Fellows levels.

For information or to upgrade your

membership and attend, call 213.763.3253

or visit NHM.ORG/hauntedmuseum.*fear of the number 13

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Put your triskaidekaphobia* aside and try your luck at the 13th annual Haunted Museum!Sunday, October 23, 5–8 pm

Throw some salt over your shoulder, meet curators to over- come your superstitions, and collect good luck charms. Haunted Museum is for Members at the Naturalist, Explorer, Adventurer and Fellows levels. For information or to upgrade and attend, call 213.763.3253 or visit NHM.ORG/hauntedmuseum.

Sleepover: Boo and GooSaturday, October 22

Sleepover: Halloween Mysteries Friday, October 28Visit nhm.org/overnights.

Adult All-Nighter: You are NOT the FatherSaturday, October 29Learn about the mating habits of bats from an NHM scientist and dress up to enter our costume contest. Visit nhm.org/sleepovers.

ARE YOU LUCKY OR UNLUCKY?

Enjoy a festive cocktail reception as renowned author Ursula K. Heise presents her

new book, Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species.

Fellows In Focus

Sunday, November 6, at 6 pm

Fellows in Focus events are for Members at the $2,000 Fellows level and above.

To join the Fellows, please call 213.763.3253 or e-mail fellows@nhm.org.

Go behind the scenes, meet Museum scientists, and go on a scavenger hunt throughout the Museum.

RSVP required. Call 213.763.3499 or e-mail rsvp@nhm.org. Free for Members at the Patron Family level ($220) and higher.

October 15 Ornithology

November 5 Project 23 at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

*Fear of the Number 13

MORE

HAL

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FUN

More than 300 arachnids will soon be engineering

spectacular webs inside the Museum’s new Spider

Pavilion. Our live-animal experts and entomologists

are doing even more to make a hospitable home

for the web spinners in the new airier and light-

filled Pavilion. They have chosen every tree and

bush to maximize homebuilding opportunities

for the 15 species of local and exotic spiders, from

large golden silk spiders to golden orb weavers,

with their dramatic yellow-and-black markings.

As visitors walk inside the new space, they will

see Museum staff periodically misting the air with

water so the spiders — some from swampy habitats

such as the Louisiana bayou — are more comfortable

in the dry California climate.

NHM staff are also delivering hundreds of

spider delicacies twice a week, including crickets,

wax worms, and their favorite: flies. The webs are

regularly monitored (some can be six feet across)

to make sure there’s ample space between branches

to provide optimal web-spinning options. If there’s

cause for concern, say a spider is building its spiral

of silk threads on top of another arachnid’s pad

(spiders sometimes eat each other!), it will be

carefully relocated.

Free for Members. Timed-tickets required. Visit NHM.ORG/spiders.

Pampered Arachnids in All-New Digs

MEMBER PREVIEW DAYSFriday, October 28, and Saturday, October 29 Open Through December 11.

Spider Pavilion is sponsored by Western Exterminator.

Right: a green lynx, that may be roaming around on the flowers in the pavilion.

MAKE A SPA DATE“NHM is the only open-air spider pavilion of its

kind and that’s pretty special,” say Cat Urban,

the Museum’s Manager of Invertebrate Live

Animals. “We bring people up close and personal

with so many different kinds of amazing spiders

in a friendly live exhibition, which inspires curiosity.

Visitors often walk away with a sense of awe.”

All this pampering means visitors to the Spider

Pavilion are guaranteed to find a wide variety of

webs, as well as their industrious makers slinking

along the silk threads. At the Pavilion’s entrance,

in special cases, are some visual treats — rarely

displayed specimens from the Museum’s Live

Animal Program, such as the pink toe tarantula

from South Africa.

Visitors inside the Pavilion may even spot an

egg sac or two dangling from the branches of a leafy

bush, the temporary quarters of the next generation

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The Gift of ExpertiseThousands of Angelenos give to the NHM Family

of Museums in many different ways — as members,

volunteers, and donors. The Museum recently

launched a new group organized around another

way to contribute: professional expertise. NHM’s

Professional Advisors Council (PAC) is a small group

of charitably minded local attorneys, accountants,

financial planners, and others who are dedicated to

being resources for members, volunteers, and donors

seeking advice on estate planning and planned giving.

Ivan Estrada, a realtor, CPA, and USC grad, said

he’s been visiting NHM since he was four years old.

He joined the council with future young visitors in

mind. “I have always loved science. Dinosaurs were

my favorite thing in the entire world,” says Estrada.

“I think it’s so important to be part of something

that’s a major part of kids’ development.”

Ryan J. Shumacher, a trust and estates attorney

and co-chair of PAC, said NHM was a natural fit

for him, too: “I was an anthropology major in college

and had spent time at the Museum growing up,

so reengaging with it as a professional has been

extremely fulfilling.”

For Katie Adams Farrell, also a co-chair of

PAC, this work has been a homecoming. Farrell was

a fundraiser at NHM before leaving to work in a

financial planning practice with her husband, where

she specializes in philanthropy advising and financial

management for nonprofits. “NHM is magical. I look

at the world so differently now, and I’m grateful to

have some amazing tools to raise my children to love

and respect our planet,” she says. Farrell is convinced

that the expertise and services that PAC members

are providing will ultimately matter to every visitor

to NHM. “What we believe is that whether it’s for

family or charity, it feels good to leave a legacy.”

Above: Members of the NHM Professional Advisors Council, from left to right: John Bunzel, Katie Adams Farrell, Josh Rothstein, Ryan J. Shumacher, Lorene Chandler, and David Coronel. Image by Deniz Durmus.

Above image of Dr. Emily Lindsey by Deniz Durmus. To learn more about the Professional Advisors Council, visit NHM.ORG/pac.

Dr. Emily Lindsey, the new Assistant

Curator and Excavation Site Director

of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum,

has a passion for sloths. Her home is

filled with sloth-themed items given

to her and her young son by friends,

relatives, and colleagues over the

years — sloth stuffed animals, books,

figurines, magnates, quilts, socks, etc.

She has also spent a good part of her

professional career in Ecuadorian tar

pits studying the slow-moving, now-

extinct giant sloths that munched

on plants there 15,000 years ago.

“Giant sloths were so weird and

awkward,” she says. “I love that there

used to be some as big as elephants.”

Lindsey is in the perfect job to

indulge that fascination. Fossils of the

famously lethargic sloths — as well

as saber-toothed cats, dire wolves,

and mammoths — are among the

discoveries, giant and microscopic,

that are mounted for display inside

the museum, examined in the Fossil

Lab, and excavated just yards from

her office.

DEEP SECRETSWhen Lindsey thinks about her work

ahead at the La Brea Tar Pits and

Museum, she believes it revolves

around the idea that the mysteries

of the present can be unraveled by

the scientific discoveries about the

past. A conservation paleoecologist

who has a PhD from the University of

California, Berkeley, she will use the

fossils to understand how the ancient

ecosystem of the Los Angeles Basin

functioned, why so many creatures

here became extinct, and whether

environmental changes, people, or

both were players in that. The asphalt

seeps of Mid-Wilshire, excavated for

more than 100 years, are exceptionally

fertile ground for bringing to the

surface clues to the life and environ-

ment of the Ice Age 10,000 to 40,000

years ago.

“We have literally millions of

prepared specimens of bones of small

and large animals, plants, insects,

snails, and even pollen, which means

this is a truly unique opportunity

to look at how an entire ecosystem

responded to past climate change,”

she says. “You can’t do that anywhere

else in the world.”

Dig This: Our New Tar Pits Expert

See fossils excavated on daily excavator tours.

Watch the action in the Fossil Lab.

Experience our Titans of the Ice Age 3D film.

Visit TARPITS.ORG/calendar for more information.

TAKE THE JOURNEY!

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Free football parking for FellowsJoin the Fellows and receive free, reserved home game parking for USC and Rams football games!

Fellows also enjoy private tours, VIP events, and more.

Call 213.763.3253, visit NHM.ORG/fellows, or e-mail fellows@nhm.org to join. Visit NHM.ORG/ramsnhm for a 10% discount. Above image by Mario de Lopez

Ongoing Activities

Events

ONGOING AT NHM Dinosaur EncountersGet closer to dinosaurs than you ever thought possible in these amazingly real performances.

Gallery Exploration TourIn NHM’s award-winning tour, a Gallery Interpreter takes you on a journey featuring a new fascinating topic each day.

Meet a Live AnimalDrop by to meet different animals daily, from bugs to boas.

For a schedule, visit NHM.ORG/calendar.

ONGOING AT THE LA BREA TAR PITS AND MUSEUMIce Age EncountersCome face to face with our Saber-toothed Cat — don’t worry, she’s a puppet — and learn about life in the Ice Age.

Titans of the Ice Age Journey to a world lost in time, buried in ice, and ruled by giants in this exciting 3D film. Free for Members. For information, visit TARPITS.ORG/titans.

Presented by

Try Your Luck at the 13th Annual Haunted Museum!Sunday, October 23, 5–8 pmPut your triskaidekaphobia* (fear of the number 13) aside, throw some salt over your shoulder, meet curators to overcome your superstitions, and collect good luck charms. Haunted Museum is for Members at the Naturalist, Explorer, Adventurer and Fellows levels. For information or to upgrade and attend, call 213.763.3253 or go to NHM.ORG/hauntedmuseum.

Spider Pavilion Member Preview DaysFriday, October 28, and Saturday, October 29Marvel at hundreds of spiders spinning their intricate webs in the brand new Spider Pavilion. Visit NHM.ORG/spiders. Sponsored by Western Exterminator.

Fellows in FocusImagining Extinction with Ursula K. HeiseSunday, November 6, at 6 pmEnjoy a festive cocktail reception as renowned author (and Fellows member) Ursula K. Heise presents her new book, Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species. A book signing will follow the lecture. For the $2000 Fellows level and above.

Gift MembershipsGive the gift of wonder and discovery with a gift membership to the Natural History Family of Museums. They include a members tote bag, membership gift card, and the latest issue of NHM’s Naturalist magazine. Save 10% on any gift membership with promo code memgm online at NHM.ORG/giftmemberships or by calling 213.763.3499.

For more information about all events, visit NHM.ORG/calendar.

OCTOBER

Reading Between the Lions This lecture series features writers and scientists discussing their newly released books about nature. Free with RSVP.

Thursday, October 6, 6:30–9 pmAn evening with author Jill Jonnes in conversation with NHM’s head gardener and arborist, Richard Hayden, as they discuss her book, Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape.

Thursday, October 20, 6:30–9 pmIn a conversation with writer Alissa Walker, author Nathanael Johnson discusses his new book, Unseen City, and how observation of our nonhuman neighbors makes life richer and might just be the first step in saving the world.

Sleepovers6:30 pm–9 am

Ice Age AdventuresSaturday, October 8 for Boys and GirlsLearn about the La Brea Tar Pits and the titans that lived during the last Ice Age by experiencing the new Titans of the Ice Age 3D film.

Dino DetectivesFriday, October 21 for Boys and GirlsAt this action-packed overnight, you will be Junior Paleontologists, learning all about dinosaurs!

Boo and GooSaturday, October 22 for Boys and GirlsPut on a costume and prowl through the world-famous La Brea Tar Pits.

Halloween Mysteries Friday, October 28 for Boys and GirlsHelp solve a mystery at this Halloween sleepover. Costumes are encouraged. Register online at NHM.ORG/overnights. For children with an accompanying adult.

Adult All-Nighter: You Are NOT the FatherSaturday, October 29Learn about the mating habits of bats from an NHM scientist and dress up to enter our costume contest. Visit NHM.ORG/sleepovers.

Critter ClubOctober 15, 10 am and 11 am Ice Age StompLet’s go on a dig in the classroom and see what critters we find buried in ice. Designed for 3- to 5-year-olds and a participating adult.

Junior ScientistOctober 15, 10:30 am and 1:30 pmLa Brea Livin’ Discover how the first human residents used the tar of La Brea. Designed for 6- to 9-year-olds and their families.

Workshops Grow Your Own Vegetables! Sunday October 16, 23, and 30 12–4:30 pmCreate your own edible garden of fresh, organic produce!

Sauerkraut Sunday, October 30, 10 am–12 pmSample the art, science, and history of sauerkraut and leave with a delicious jar of your own. Visit NHM.ORG/workshops.

NOVEMBER

Sleepovers6:30 pm–9 am

Dino DetectivesNovember 4, for Boys and GirlsAt this action-packed overnight, your group will be junior paleontologists, learning all about dinosaurs.

Museum-ologistsNovember 18 for Boys and GirlsCurious about paleontology or conservation? Learn about Museum jobs at this sleepover. Register online at NHM.ORG/overnights. For children with accompanying adult.

Reading Between the Lions Lecture series featuring writers and scientists discussing their newly released books about nature.

Thursday, November 3, 6:30–9 pmJoin UC Santa Barbara geologist Arthur Sylvester and Illustrator Elizabeth O’Black Gans, as they explore one of the most geologically diverse places on the planet.

Thursday, November 17, 6:30–9 pmJoin us for an evening with Wired columnist Matt Simon and science correspondent Alie Ward as they discuss Simon’s book, The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution’s Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life’s Biggest Problems. Free with RSVP. Visit NHM.ORG/lectures.

Events with this icon are reserved for Members. Visit NHM.ORG/renew or call 213.763.3426 to upgrade your membership.

LEGEND

Natural History Museum

La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

William S. Hart Museum

Overnight Adventures

Offsite Adventure

NHM Member Events

NHM Fellows Events

Paid Events

Members Only

Fall Alliance Circle SalonBackyard Birding 90210Sunday, October 9, at 5 pmYou are welcomed into the home of one of our supporters to see their exquisite garden, which entices a variety of wildlife, including many species of birds. Learn about the avifauna that call Southern California their home from Ornithology Collections Manager Kimball Garrett. For the $3,500 Alliance Circle level and above.

Pros and Cons-ervationSaturday, October 15, at 3 pmVisit a beautiful home in Pasadena for a lively afternoon cocktail reception. Hear Museum Conservator Tania Collas tell tales of conserving priceless artifacts, while she reveals best practices to preserve and protect your own collections. For the $3,500 Alliance Circle level and above.

Scavenger’s SafariOrnithologySaturday, October 15La Brea Tar PitsSaturday, November 5To reserve your spot on our next Scavenger’s Safari, call us at 213.763.3499 or e-mail rsvp@nhm.org.

Members Only

Members receive free admission to all programs unless otherwise noted.

Institutional partner

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Gift memberships to the Natural History Family of Museums include a Members tote bag, membership card, and the latest issue of NHM’s Naturalist magazine.

Give the gift of wonder and discovery with an NHM Membership!

Save 10% with the promo code memgm online at NHM.ORG/giftmemberships at the Museum Store or by calling 213.763.3499.

In This Issue:The Dinosaur IssueSpider Pavilion Opens

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAIDLos Angeles, CA Permit no. 13945

Membership Office900 Exposition BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007Telephone 213.763.3426www.nhm.org/membership

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