{"id":15060,"date":"2014-01-28T22:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T06:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/?p=15060"},"modified":"2014-01-31T16:24:22","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T00:24:22","slug":"biodiversity-in-baja-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2014\/01\/28\/biodiversity-in-baja-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity In Baja California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attended what turned out to be a really entertaining presentation about a multidisciplinary expedition to Sierra Cacachilas in Mexico’s Baja California Sur by some of the staff from the San Diego Natural History Museum<\/a> in Balboa Park<\/a> here in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\"SDNHM<\/a>

San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park<\/p><\/div>\n

\"SDNHM<\/a>

San Diego Natural History Museum lobby<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

San Diego Natural History Museum lobby<\/p><\/div>\n

The trip occurred last October and November but only recently has the team been able to label most of the specimens they returned with. Most of the total specimens stayed down in Mexico, at least for now.<\/p>\n

When I first walked into the lobby I right away noticed the life-sized pirate figures that the staff had brought out to help promote the upcoming “Real Pirates<\/a>” exhibition in February.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lobby pirates<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lobby pirate<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lobby pirate<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lobby pirate<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lobby pirate<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

At about quarter to 7:00 we were allowed to start heading into the Kaplan Theater to take our seats. I even spotted a pirate figure sitting in the seats, patiently waiting for the presentation to start. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed once the presentation began.<\/p>\n

\"Charmaine<\/a>

Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan Theater<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Theater<\/a>

Theater pirate<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Presentation<\/a>

Presentation title<\/p><\/div>\n

The show kicked off with a few remarks by the museum’s President and CEO, Dr. Mick Hager, who always introduces himself as the museum’s oldest fossil. The actual trip tales started with Rob Rebman<\/a>, curator of the museum’s botany department. His enthusiasm for all thinks flora made his portion of the evening’s presentation very enjoyable. And it really showed me how amazingly little I know about plants.<\/p>\n

After Dr. Rebman had finished his twenty minutes, my friend, Michael Wall<\/a>, took the stage. He is the curator of the museum’s entomology department as well as VP of Research and Public Programs. He began by speaking on behalf of the herpetology department about some of the reptiles they found, mainly snakes and lizards, before switching into his comfort zone of insects and arachnids. There were some cross-over stories. For example, he showed a slide of a large rattlesnake whose diet consists of mainly eating giant, venomous centipedes called Skolopendra gigantea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also showed on image of a large, immature male spider which they as yet cannot identify. I noticed that one of its legs was a lighter color than the rest, which I asked him about afterwards. It took 55 years on this Earth for me to learn that spiders, when they molt, have the ability to regenerate limbs they have lost.<\/p>\n

Both presenters stayed for a while afterwards to answer some questions and show a few of the museum’s samples of what was talked about tonight.<\/p>\n

\"Post<\/a>

Post presentation<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Showing<\/a>

Showing sample specimens<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was a fantastic night of edutainment. A smaller team will go back for a less detailed follow-up expedition in May and I’m already looking forward to what they will present when they get back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attended what turned out to be a really entertaining presentation about a multidisciplinary expedition to Sierra Cacachilas in Mexico’s Baja California Sur by some of the staff from the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park here in San Diego. The trip occurred last October and November but only recently has the team been … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[180,199,101,178],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1s2SN-3UU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11068,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2012\/01\/19\/balboa-park-meanderings\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":0},"title":"Balboa Park Meanderings","date":"January 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Continued my great day with some strolling around most of Balboa Park, from the Natural History Museum, across to the San Diego History Center with its library and archives, over to the California Tower by the Museum of Man, through Alcazar Garden, down to the Organ Pavilion, over to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12554,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2012\/04\/25\/exploring-balboa-park-with-ron\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":1},"title":"Exploring Balboa Park With Ron","date":"April 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"After picking up my buddy Ron from his downtown hotel, we drove over to Balboa Park to meander around a bit and to go see the Titanic exhibit showing at the San Diego Natural History Museum. It was my second time (so far) seeing this particular exhibit. Since no photography\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Balboa-Park-Ron08-04-25-12-lo-res.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2549,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2010\/10\/15\/open-house-at-the-natural-history-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":2},"title":"Open House At The Natural History Museum","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Attended the members-only open house at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2010\/06\/17\/san-diego-zoo-and-the-natural-history-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":3},"title":"A Day at the San Diego Zoo and the Natural History Museum","date":"June 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As these two hand stamps show (turtle on the left, dinosaur on the right), I spent the morning into the early afternoon at the San Diego Zoo with Mary and Diana, eating lunch at the Front Street Caf\u00e9 inside the Zoo. \u00a0Then spent a couple of hours at the Natural\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/1-Zoo-Stamp-lo-res.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8772,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2011\/09\/20\/walking-balboa-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":4},"title":"Walking Balboa Park","date":"September 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Had an hour between the Natural History Museum closing and the Wyatt Earp presentation this evening so I walked around Balboa Park taking pictures at the Museum of Man, the Alcazar Gardens and the \"Laguna de las Flores\" in front of the Botanical Building. There are more than 20,000 trees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1502,"url":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/2010\/08\/31\/natural-history-museum-visit\/","url_meta":{"origin":15060,"position":5},"title":"Natural History Museum Visit","date":"August 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Spent some at the San Diego Natural History Museum with the Cassins followed by lunch with them and Sylvia, Deaglan and Courtney.","rel":"","context":"In "Balboa Park"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15060"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15087,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15060\/revisions\/15087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pacsworlds.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}