London Natural History Museum

16 things: KU's Natural History Museum director shares experiences

I first got the idea from a newspaper in San Diego, which went around to academics and simply got them talking about things they’ve done.

I wanted to do that at Kansas University, and I knew where I wanted to start: in the office of Leonard Krishtalka, director of KU’s Natural History Museum and biodiversity research center.

He agreed to be the guinea pig for the idea — but was adamant that he not be treated as some kind of celebrity and that we avoid focusing on trite clichés.

“It’s not about me,” he said. “Focus on the big ideas.”

He has helped expand the focus of the museum to include biodiversity informatics, which includes predictive aspects of the work of the museum as well as descriptive ones.

And here are 16 things he’s done:

• Walked with his father under the stars in Montreal, where he was born. His father asked him how many stars there were in the sky. Knowing it to be a trick, Krishtalka said he didn’t know.

“365,232,657,089,” his father said. When Krishtalka asked how he knew, his father replied. “If you don’t believe me, count.”

• Dissected a frog with his mother on the kitchen table as part of a homework assignment while at McGill University in Montreal.

“There is this huge diversity of life, and there is a pattern to this diversity,” he said. “These were wondrous patterns I wanted to understand.”

• Dropped out before he failed his third year at McGill. He entered at 16 and found that the movie theater down the street from the university showed three movies a day. He wasn’t mature enough at the time, he said, and watched 15 movies a week instead of going to class.

• Worked menial jobs in Alberta for two years after that, including one in a paper mill. He came back, though, two years later, to the University of Alberta, where he discovered paleontology. He said he was “inculcated with his parents’ idea that education was everything.”

• Discovered a complete skull of a horned, triceratops-like dinosaur called monoclonius in Alberta. When he saw the tip of the nose horn poking out of the ground, and the base of the skull a few feet away, he knew what he had found.

• Smoked for much of his career, and rolled his own cigarettes with Drum tobacco. When he’d go out into the field, he’d never smoke a cigarette until he found the first fossil of the day. No fossils meant no cigarettes.

Review: Sexual Nature, Natural History Museum, London

Review: Sexual Nature, Natural History Museum, London

Want to know what testicle size has to do with your relationship status? Whether a long tail may help or hinder you get a mate? Or what scents you might secrete to attract a partner? If so, head to London’s Natural History Museum where you’ll find a sexual surprise between now and October 2011. ‘Sexual Nature’ is an exhibition that focuses on attraction, reproduction and sexual behaviour in non-human animals.

In a climate where all too often our understanding of the ‘evolution’ and ‘biology’ of sex come in a package of bad science or gender stereotypes, it’s interesting to see an exhibition purely focusing on what different species do – rather than how they compare with humans. It gives you the opportunity to reflect on how animals are similar and different to each other – often challenging many beliefs you might have about monogamy, sexuality and reproduction.

Through the exhibition you’ll learn more about how the senses – sight, sound and smell particularly play a role in attracting a mate. Indicating how these factors may differ between species, while what you think might be desirable for a particular creature may not turn out to be advantageous when you factor in the risk of predators.

A wide range of animal activity is shown (although of course there has to be an appearance from dolphins and bonobos). Lesser known ’sexy’ species are also included, with the chance to see the positions animals favour for mating, plus the chance to listen in to mating calls and smell desire.

There is a focus on homosexuality, monogamy and non monogamies, and different genders which is another pleasant surprise in an area which often tends to reinforce rigid gender/sexuality/relationship stereotypes. That said I think the exhibition would benefit from reviews from gender/sexuality experts who could unpack the core messages still further. Part of me suspects although a more diverse view on gender/sex/relationships is taken, it is still presented through a heteronormative lens.

A major treat is the screening of clips from Isabella Rossellini’s ‘Green Porno’ focusing on the diverse mating habits of fish, insects and other creatures). (Some clips from her work can be viewed here ).

Along with the exhibition the Natural History Museum are hosting a series of debates, discussions and talks, rethinking how we view sexual behaviour, attraction, desire and sexuality. You can keep up to date with these here and don’t forget you can see the exhibition on a Friday night late night viewing (last Friday of every month).

Dry Storeroom No. 1, The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum

Darwin Desk Diary 2009

Alfred Waterhouse and the Natural History Museum

Dinosaur Sticker Book

A general guide to the British Museum (Natural History), London, with plans and views of the building