University of Minnesota Foundation

Legacy

Summer 2016
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Natural treasures

The vast collections at the U of M’s Bell Museum of Natural History—encompassing more than 4 million specimens—are a vital research tool for scientists around the world. Bird egg collections such as the one at the Bell, for example, provided the key link between DDT and raptor decline that led to a U.S. ban of the pesticide. And from fungi to fish, generous donors contribute items for the Bell's collections and funds to preserve them.

With a new online tool, the museum’s collections are now open to everyone. The Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (bellatlas.umn.edu) gives the public access to approximately 400,000 scientific records and 175,000 images—and counting. It’s one new way the Bell is igniting curiosity and discovery leading up to the opening of the new Bell Museum + Planetarium, which opens on the St. Paul campus next summer.

Photography by Paul Nelson


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These two passenger pigeons (adult and immature) were collected in Minnesota by the Bell Museum's founding curator, Thomas Sadler Roberts, in 1874. The eggs and nest are also from this species, which went extinct in 1914 due to overhunting.
Clockwise from top: eggs of the northern raven, great tinamou, boat-tailed grackle, willow ptarmigan, brown creeper, northern bobwhite, chipping sparrow, and common loon
These specimens were probably prepared by Henry Nachtrieb, Minnesota's first state zoologist, in the early 1900s. It's not clear why they were sealed in the tubes. It's possible that they were intended as teaching specimens or that Nachtrieb was experimenting with various storage methods for fishes.
Paddlefish are native to the Mississippi and Mobile River basins, as well as smaller Gulf Coast drainages. In Minnesota, they live in the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. They use electroreceptors in their snouts and on the sides of their heads to detect zooplankton. This juvenile paddlefish is about 10 to 12 inces long, but adults commonly reach over 5 feet in length.
The giant puffball fungus (Calvatia gigantea) can grow up to 4 feet in diameter. Unlike other mushrooms, puffballs do not produce caps with gills. Instead, spores are produced inside a spherical body that becomes brittle and splits to release a cloud of spores.
Sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana, right), and coulter pine (P. coulteri, left) are the longest and heaviest seed cones, respectively. Sugar pine cones can be as long as 20 inches and coulter pine cones can weigh up to 8 pounds. Both are found in the mountains of the West Coast.
The purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) lives in nutrient-poor bog habitats. It has evolved to fertilize itself by capturing insects in its modified leaves.
In 1995, a middle school class looking for frogs near Henderson, Minnesota, found that many of the frogs had extra legs, missing eyes, and other malformations. Researchers later found this phenomenon to be widespread in the state and used the Bell Museum’s collections to demonstrate that malformations were occurring at a higher rate than in the past. Today, despite significant research, the cause for these deformities is still largely a mystery. Pictured here: malformed northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens).
Called "flying dragons" (Draco sp.), these Southeast Asian lizards glide through the air using modified ribs that expand to form wings. This aids them in escaping predators from their perches in trees. This antique preparation shows both collapsed and expanded wings.
In order to reveal the muscle and cartilage of this eastern milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum), it has been "cleared and stained." Through a series of chemical treatments, the flesh is first rendered invisible, then bone is dyed red and cartilage is dyed blue. This treatment allows researchers to study fine skeletal details that would not be possible with standard dissection. The Bell Museum's herpetology collection maintains a large number of cleared and stained specimens.
Pangolins are ant specialists that show many adaptations for eating ants and termites that are quite similar to anteaters. Both groups have no teeth, but have strong claws for digging out ant hills. In addition, the pangolin has a protective shell made out of hairs that are fused together into scales.
Vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are notorious for biting livestock and humans with their razor-sharp teeth to lap up a blood meal. Highly social, these bats will share blood meals with roost-mates who fail to find a victim.
This Pleistocene bison or ancient bison (Bison antiquus) skull was found in 1965 by John Jarosz in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. These bison were substantially larger than contemporary bison and were hunted by Native Americans. They survived the Pleistocene glaciations and appear to be the precursors of modern bison.

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