hey and welcome back this week we've got
scientists exploring previously
unstudied forest in Uganda an homage to
two lost species of beetles a mushroom
with a smelly name and why we sent a
turtle to the World Chess Hall of Fame
let's go but first a moment to remember
our lost invertebrate friends
unfortunately friends new news is not
always good news in the natural history
world let us take a moment to remember
two species which have recently been
declared extinct Stephan's riffle
beetles of Arizona and the Tatum cave
beetle of Kentucky both sat and
protection limbo for decades with
population numbers dwindling in the face
of human development and drought from
climate change here at the Field Museum
we are proud to house the type specimen
of the Tatum cave beetle the individual
that was used to describe the rest of
its group to both of your species I'm
sorry we let you go extinct but I hope
by sharing your story we can encourage
you our viewers to champion and
imperiled species thank you to those
entomologists who contributed their
knowledge to these discoveries into the
field for housing some members of their
species field museum specimens not mere
pawns in chess exhibit it's not unusual
for field museum scientists to send
specimens to other museums and research
institutions last year we loaned out 42
thousand specimens all over the world
but for perhaps the first time a group
of specimens were sent to be on display
in a new exhibit about chess the world
chess Hall of Fame in st. Louis Missouri
has a new exhibit called Animal
Vegetable mineral and it showcases
highlights of the dr. George and Vivian
Dean chess set collections there are 37
sets on display in each one of those is
either based off of elements of the
natural world or was created using
natural materials a couple highlights
include is set with carved insects
pieces from 1790 that were
scientifically accurate enough to be
identified to the species level there's
also a set made from polished
tortoiseshell from the early 1900s and
displayed alongside those sets our field
museum specimens this exhibit aims to
celebrate the natural wonders of the
world and it brings art nature and craft
together under the umbrella of a
globally recognized pastime after all
chess has been around for about 1,500
years and is played all over the world
even wizards like chess although these
chess sets were created for the purpose
of entertainment and display
they've become important historical
artifacts and that they represent the
ways in which people have interacted
with various natural materials in the
past especially considering many of the
materials used to make the sets are now
limited in availability or in the case
of the tortoiseshell are now endangered
species this exhibit will run until
March 2017
so if you're in st. Louis get a taste of
science and chess history in one go
checkmate
first vertebrate survey conducted in
northern Uganda Forest recently Field
Museum researchers and associates Holly
Lutz Julian Curtis and Josh Engel spent
a month in the northern parts of Uganda
with collaborators from Meharry
University in Kampala their goal was to
study the birds and mammals of to remote
highland regions in the far northern
parts of the country field correspondent
Emily graslie has more on the story
thanks Emily the scientists first stop
was Mount Warren goal and was only the
third time an inventory of birds and
mammals had been conducted in the area
in the whole history of the world Gally
the next stop was a Goro R Wu Forest
Preserve which protects the Ugandan side
of the Emmett on mountains that flew
into South Sudan although a field museum
ornithologist visited the South Sudan
site in 1977 this recent expedition was
the first biological survey in the
montane forests on the Ugandan side the
field team collected a number of species
for Hollies research which investigates
the microbial communities aka germ
Parties of those specimens primarily
bats her past research has examined
things like parasite diversity and how
diseases like malaria spread between
Birds that's right
bird malaria and bad germ parties thanks
Emily always exciting to learn more
about not done now we're here in
northern Vietnam with field curator
Petra Cyr Wald who's collecting
millipedes and arachnids with
collaborators from Alabama Italy in
Brazil they're especially interested in
studying the diversity of those
millipede families and the genetic
relationship of tarantulas they also
held a workshop focused on training
eight young students from Vietnam
Cambodia and Indonesia about proper
specimen collecting techniques
now we can go back to you Wow okay
thanks Emily I appreciate your
dedication to the job now let's go to a
story about mushrooms a mushroom for
Chicago new species discoveries are
always exciting but even more so when
they're named for your city and also you
can eat them mycologists aka mushroom
experts from the Field Museum the
Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern
University have named this bright yellow
chanterelle found in the region
kentrell a Chicago wences in honor of
the great city of Chicago and as
mentioned it is edible and it doesn't
happen to come with any psychedelic
effects either the fields Patrick
Leacock tells us there are more than a
thousand species of mushrooms in the
Chicago area with new ones being
discovered thanks to the productive
collaborations between professionals and
amateur enthusiasts alike the name
Chicago is from a Menominee word for a
place where smelly onions grow Chicago
or skunk place how endearing is your
city named after a foul odor let us know
in the comments below hey and thanks for
watching this episode of natural news
from the Field Museum you know when I
was doing all this research about chess
I came across a lot of interesting chess
sets like one that could be played by
four people and another one that was
three-dimensional so I want to know if
you guys know of any interesting sets
let us know in the comments below and be
sure to check out our next episode on
the brain scoop which is about an
amazing laser stay tuned
smells like knowledge