♬∞ Punch♏︎Tsubasa ☉☯

more hall of paleontology at the houston museum of natural science (feat. bisexual lighting)

Title: Vase with Gladioli and Carnations

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

Date: 1886

Style: Post-Impressionism

Genre: Flower Painting

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!

Early Christian Symbol Stone from Ardwall Island, Brogue, Dumfries Museum, Scotland

One small step for leeches, one giant leap for leechkind! For the first time, we have concrete evidence that at least one species of terrestrial leech in Madagascar can jump. Mai’s work is important to conservation efforts because leeches are increasingly being collected to survey vertebrate biodiversity. By analyzing their blood meals, researchers are able to identify other animals living alongside the leeches, ranging from wildcats to frogs to ground-dwelling birds. Read more about Mai's research in our latest blog post.

Have you ever seen a leech jump? Let us know in the comments!

🟣 Amethyst is a variety of quartz, which is the second-most common mineral on Earth. But what distinguishes the quartz varieties? The size of their crystals and the causes of their different colors. Amethyst ranges from pale purple to dark violet.

💎 But wait, there’s more! An alternative birthstone for the month of February is jasper. Find your birthstone, and so much more, in the Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.

~ Pair of Eye Inlays.

Place of origin: Egypt

Period: Late Period, 25th-26th Dynasty

Date: 722-525 B.C.

Medium: Stone, alabaster, pigment.

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

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 

~ Serpent ornament.

Date: A.D. 1450–1532

Place of origin: Peru

Culture: Inca (?)

Medium: Cotton, camelid hair

~ Helmingham herbal and bestiary.

Place oforigin/Published: Helmingham, Suffolk

Date: ca. 1500

💎 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!

3000 year old petroglyph of a man running away from a big snake. With erection. It is one of the many Rock carvings in Tanum, Sweden and was painted red so its easier for tourists to see.

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