Event 1/Extra Credit

Arctic Wolves
For my event, I visited the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. Specifically, I toured the halls of African Mammals and North American Mammals. The exhibits featured many large, well known animals like lions, grizzly bears, elephants etc. Animals from around the world had been preserved and very artistically displayed in well-thought out exhibits with very detailed painted backgrounds. The science of ecosystems and nature was blended with artistic tinge to create these life-like displays of these commonly known animals. In addition to being well known, one thing I noticed that a lot of the animals on display had in common was that they were endangered. It is no secret that the development of human civilization over the past few thousands of years has driven some animals to extinction, including the marsupial rhino and giant kangaroo. Primarily human action has caused the animals on exhibit in the museum to become extinct as well (Durfee).

Lowland Gorilla
The taxidermy of animals and altering organs and structures in order for humans around the world is generally very accepted. The process of taxidermy includes very invasive procedures to the dead animals. These animals are shown essentially as art to people across the globe. A taxidermist must skin the animal, scrub the bones, and use a chemical wash on the body so that it may be displayed for a long duration of time (Woollaston)

Alba
During our unit on biotechnology, we learned the capabilities of genetic medication. Genomes can be studied, altered, and improved to perform miracles like slowly or even stopping cancer progression (Vesna). There were also many instances of humans altering animals in non-harmful ways that received a great deal of friction. For example, when Eduardo Kac created Alba, a rabbit, glow fluorescently by incorporating into it genome one from biofluorescent jellyfish brought on a barrage of media outrage (Philipkoski)

Wooly Mammoth
I am very curious what the implications would be of using biotechnology in museum exhibits. As I stated earlier, many of the animals on display are endangered. Some animals have even gone extinct, like the wooly mammoth. With today’s biotechnology it may soon be possible to reconstruct a mammoth’s DNA from fossils, artificially inseminate it into an elephant surrogate and regrow the mammoth population (Quill). This begs the question that in order to display much of nature’s creations or even possibly save a species will it be accepted like the hunting and taxidermy of animals, or will it have more ethical implications like when artists and scientists altered the genomes of animals.
Works Cited
Durfee, Rachel. “The Human Cause of Animal Extinction.” Popular Science, 19 Aug. 2008.
Philipkoski, Kristen. “RIP Alba, the Glowing Bunny.” Wired, 12 Aug. 2002.
Quill, Elizabeth. “These Are the Extinct Animals We Can, and Should, Resurrect .” Smithsonian Magazine, May 2015.
Vesna, Victoria, director. BioArt Pat 1. Youtube, 18 Sept. 2013.

Woollaston, Victoria. “The Science of Taxidermy” DailyMail. 31 Dec. 2014.
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