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What do rocks, coral, and trees have in common? Find out with Museum Education Experience Program (MEEP) interns Claire and Fred.
The Museum is looking for fall interns! Applications are open through August 23. Apply now!
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Trilobites are extinct animals that have a shell made of “rock”—and sometimes, these animals record examples of failed predation within their suit of armor. New research by Russell Bicknell, a postdoctoral researcher in the Museum’s Division of Paleontology, examined unique specimens that showcased extreme examples of such injuries. These rare fossils show how trilobites were often at the bottom of the food chain and were food for bigger animals. These specimens also provide important insight into how trilobites recovered from failed predation.
Image 1: Paradoxides bohemicus Image 2: Close up of Paradoxides bohemicus injury Image 3: Ogygopsis klotzi Image 4: Close up of Ogygopsis klotzi injury Image 5: Olenoides serratus Image 6: Close up of Olenoides serratus injury
Photos courtesy of Russell Bicknell
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Today’s Exhibit of the Day? The Museum’s giant amethyst geode. Standing 9 ft (2.7 m) tall and weighing around 11,000 lbs (5,000 kg), it’s one of the largest specimens in our halls. How did this dazzling geode come to be? About 135 million years ago, the continental plates carrying South America and Africa began to separate. Magma poured out from fractures in Earth’s crust and large gas bubbles escaped from within the magma—becoming trapped in the rock as it solidified, forming cavities. Groundwater flowing into these spaces brought dissolved silica, which crystallized into quartz. Over millennia, most of these quartz crystals turned into rich purple amethyst. Spot this and other amazing specimens in the Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals!
Photo: D. Finnin/ © AMNH
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💎 The large stibnite crystals are made up of tiny building blocks called unit cells, in which atoms and sulfur combine in a regular arrangement. Unit cells repeat in a 3D pattern to form a crystal.
🎊 Happy New Year to all—we hope to see you at the Museum in 2024!
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It’s time for Trilobite Tuesday! Found in Germany’s Devonian-age Hunsruck Shale, certain examples of the pacopid genus Chotecops only reveal their soft-part anatomy when subjected to high-power X-ray technology. Thanks to the power of radiant energy, it’s possible to observe the legs, antennae, or gills of these fossilized trilobites.