Museum speaker to reveal how mammals survive extreme environmental change

For immediate release ‐ December 07, 2015

Contact: Jon Pishney, 919.707.8083. Images available upon request

RALEIGH — From explorations in the remotest parts of New Guinea, the high forests of the Andes, and the plains of East Africa, find out how extreme mammals cope with extreme environmental threats on a rapidly changing planet when Smithsonian zoologist Kristofer Helgen presents “Mammals in an Age of Extreme Environmental Change,” at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Thursday, January 7, 7 p.m.

In this presentation, held in conjunction with the Museum’s current featured exhibition “Extreme Mammals,” Helgen will also explain how modern scientific expeditions and detective work in museum collections can lead to the discovery of new species of mammals, as well as a better understanding of the ways that mammal species are increasingly endangered in a human-dominated world. In 2013, Helgen and NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ mammalogist Roland Kays were part of a team that discovered the olinguito, the first carnivore species to be described in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years.

Helgen is a Smithsonian Research Zoologist and head of mammalogy at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where he oversees the largest museum collection of mammals and the most-visited Hall of Mammals in the world. His work focuses especially on research in museum collections and expeditions to document biodiversity and to study environmental change. He has worked as a zoologist in 50 countries and documented dozens of previously overlooked species of living mammals, including the blue-eyed spotted cuscus, the greater monkey-faced bat, and the olinguito. He holds honorary or affiliate academic appointments at the Australian Museum in Sydney, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, George Mason University in Virginia, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, the Natural Sciences Research Laboratory at Texas Tech University, and the National Geographic Society, where he was inducted as a National Geographic Explorer in 2009. In 2013 he was recognized among the “Most Innovative People Under 40” by Business Insider magazine.

“Extreme Mammals” explores the diversity, ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny, from speedy to sloth-like. The exhibition features spectacular fossils, vivid reconstructions and life-like models — including a 15-foot-high touchable model of the extinct Indricotherium, the largest known land mammal. This is the fourth in a series of scientific talks that delve into what makes a mammal extreme — the biological characteristics, behavior and ability to adapt for survival. Upcoming presentations include:

Thursday, February 4
“Chill Out! Hibernation as a ‘Cool’ Way to Survive the Winter”
Sheena Faherty, PhD candidate in the Department of Biology, Duke University

Thursday, March 3
“Africa’s Greatest Killer? Understanding Human-Hippopotamus Conflict”
Dr. Corinne Kendall, Assistant Curator of Conservation and Research, NC Zoo

Tickets: $10 per lecture. Add an exhibition ticket to your order and receive $5 off admission. Friends of the Museum members receive free admission to the exhibition. Tickets are available online (naturalsciences.org/extreme) or at the Museum Box Office (919.707.9950).

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