Museum - American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York

On this day in 1492, a young boy saw a large stone plummet from the sky and land in a wheat field near the town of Ensisheim in Alsace, France. This fall is the earliest one witnessed in the Western world from which meteorite samples have been preserved. The Ensisheim meteorite was considered a sign of good luck from God. Immediately after it fell, people began chipping off pieces as sacred souvenirs. Fragments of Ensisheim can be found in museum collections all over the world, including at our Museum! Photo: AMNH

What tortoise lives in Madagascar and only grows to the size of a grapefruit? Enter the spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides). Its name was inspired by the pattern on its shell, which is reminiscent of a spiderweb! The roughly 6-inch (15-centimeter)-long reptile inhabits arid forests along the southern coast of the island where it feeds on leaves, insects, and the insect larva within cow poop! Unfortunately, the species is threatened due in part to habitat loss and the illegal pet trade. Photo: Klaus Rudloff, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Instead of wrapping itself in a blanket before going to sleep every night, the daisy parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) coats itself in mucus. Scientists think that it does this to protect itself from blood-sucking parasites! The bubble of mucus encases the fish’s entire body and is secreted through special glands in its gills. This fish inhabits the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, often around coral reefs. Photo: Francois Libert, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, flickr

Peekaboo! Did you know that scallops have eyes? In fact, they have the most acute vision of any bivalve! Two rows of limpid blue eyes peer from the open shell of this bay scallop (Argopecten irradians). Its multiple eyes sense light and movement, helping it guard against predators like sea stars, sea urchins, and sea snails. It can also see when the water is clouded with the microscopic algae and other particles that it consumes. Photo: Kevin Bryant, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, flickr

Booit’s the ghost mantis (Phyllocrania paradoxa)! This species has a wide range across Africa where it might be spotted in tropical forests south of the Sahara Desert, such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, and on the island of Madagascar. It’s on the smaller end of mantids, only growing around 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. Its leaflike appearance helps camouflage this critter in the trees, concealing it from predators and prey. When under threat, it may act like a leaf by mimicking the movements of foliage in the wind, swaying back and forth to subtly flee from danger. When hunting, it remains still until a meal, like a grasshopper or moth, comes close enough for it to snatch with its forelimbs. Photo: Frupus, CC BY-NC 2.0, flickr

Meet the Crested Barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii)! This striking species can be found in parts of Africa, including Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The roughly 9.1-inch (23-centimeter)-long bird lives in woodland habitats, where it feeds on fruits, seeds, and insects. Some of its favorite snacks are guavas and grasshoppers. Both males and females have patterns of red, orange, and black-and-white plumage; the main difference is that females’ colors may be more subdued. Photo: Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, flickr

Does this time of year make you feel ghoulish? The bearded ghoul (Inimicus didactylus) can relate. This fish lurks on the ocean floor in the Indo-Pacific, using its pectoral fins to pull itself along the sand. When hungry, it will bury itself beneath the sand and, with its upward-facing eyes, seek out small fish to ambush. Few animals dare to prey on the bearded ghoul, as it can inject a powerful venom via its dorsal spineswhich is why this fish is also known as the demon stinger. Photo: Jack, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, flickr

Meet the Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)! Its vast range spans much of North America, where it lives in a variety of habitats such as forests, swamps, and woodlands. When on the lookout for a meal, this bird perches in the treetops and scans the area below for prey. An assortment of critters are on the menu, like chipmunks and snakes, depending on the season and locale. Photo: Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0

Hump Day fact: camel humps are filled with fat, not water! These reserves of fat help camels survive long stretches without eatinga droopy hump may even signify that a camel has used its reserves and needs to replenish them. Camels are herbivorous but live in harsh environments, so they’ll feed on nearly anything that’s available to them, including plants with sharp thorns, bones, animal skin, and flesh. Their digestion isn’t a one-way trip: after the initial swallow, the food goes to the stomach and is brought up again as cud for more chewing! This process can result in bad breath. Photo: albatros11, CC BY-ND 2.0, flickr

New research alert! Rainforests are a vital part of the Earth’s ecosystems: they absorb carbon dioxide, stabilize climate, and serve as the home for a rich variety of plants and animals. But tropical plants don’t preserve well in the fossil record, so researchers study the teeth of extinct animals, which lock evidence of the plants in their diet, for clues. Now, a recent study led by Museum scientists Julia Tejada-Lara and John Flynn is challenging the standard used for identifying ancient closed-canopy rainforests through dietary signatures of extinct animals.

The giant cactus (Echinopsis atacamensis pasacana) populates many of the small islands that dot the Uyuni Salt Flats in southwestern Bolivia. These salt flatsremains of an ancient seaare the largest in the world, covering an area almost the size of Connecticut! They hold some 10 billion tons of salt. The giant cactus can grow to 33 feet (10 meters) tall, and its woody skeleton is often used to construct homes and furniture. Of the more than 250 species of cacti in Bolivia, 70 percent exist nowhere else in the world. Photo: Bernard DUPONT, CC BY-SA 2.0, flickr

Like fall foliage, the Orange Dove (Ptilinopus victor) decorates the treetops with flame-like colors. Except, you won’t find this bird hanging out in the autumnal trees of North America. This species lives in forests on the islands of Fiji, where it munches on fruits and berries. Only males display bold orange plumage; females are green. Photo: Tom Tarrant, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, flickr

Get into the spirit of the season with some spooky astronomy! Museum astrophysicist Jackie Faherty will be live in the comments section of this virtual pre-recorded program, answering all of your questions about space.

With Halloween just one week away, acquaint yourself with the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus). How did this mammal get its creepy name? It all stems from its feeding habits: it often crawls undetected onto the bodies of its sleeping prey to bite them and sip their blood. But unlike in a horror film, the vampire bat rarely kills, and its victims (typically birds or livestock) seldom realize they’ve been bitten. Photo: Josh More, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, flickr

Meet the Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami)! You’ll only find this endangered bird in the wild on Narcondam Island, which is a small volcanic island in the Andaman Sea. It lives in forests and spends its time hopping about in the tree canopy or on the ground seeking ripe fruit and the occasional critter. If this bird spots a caterpillar, it will clean the hairs off of the insect by scraping it against a branch before chowing down! To distinguish a male from a female, check the plumage color on the head and neck; the male is rusty-colored, while the female is black. Photo: Rohitjahnavi, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to Trilobite Tuesday! The ways in which trilobites have been preserved within our planet’s sedimentary soils over the last half billion years are nothing less than extraordinary. Some species of these ancient arthropods have become fossilized as dolomitic internal molds, while others have had their calcite shells replaced with pyrite. Still others, such as this 3-inch (7.6-centimeter)- long Pseudomera from the 460-million-year-old Ordovician outcrops of Nevada, have been beautifully preserved in a manner that retains much of their convexity.

Happy birthday to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the largely self-taught Father of Microbiology, who was born on this day in 1632. Armed with a microscope of his own making, this Dutch haberdasher was the first to document observations of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, protists, and rotifers, which he called animalcules. His observations helped to refute the idea of spontaneous generation, a hypothetical process by which living organisms were thought to develop from nonliving matter. The majority of his discoveries were not published in books but instead explained in hundreds of letters directed to the Royal Society, a London-based group chartered in 1660 to promote scientific research. Image: Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). Natuurkundige te Delft, Jan Verkolje (I), 1680-1686

Telescopes reveal that about half the stars we see are actually double or multiple star systems. Groups of stars, held together by gravity, range up to globular clusters with hundreds of thousands of stars. The stars within each community were born together out of the same interstellar cloud. Star clusters provide a cross section of stars with nearly the same age, composition, and distance. They are invaluable for gauging stellar evolution. Image: NASA; Pictured is a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2 taken by the Hubble Telescope

The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) may look red and green to you, but you’re only human. Under UV light, some of its plumage has a distinctly golden hue! Still, you can use color cues to tell males of the species apart from females: males’ heads are entirely red, while females’ are green. This species is from eastern Australia, where it lives in rainforests, but is increasingly found in suburbs, too! Photo: David Cook, CC BY-NC 2.0, flickr

Embrace your inner wild cat in the Museum’s Hall of Biodiversity this weekend, like this tiger queen! Did you know? The Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur tiger, is one of the largest big cats alive today. Males can weigh as much as 660 pounds (299 kilograms) and can be as long as 10 feet (3 meters), from head to tail. The range of this Asian species includes parts of eastern Russia, northeastern China, and North Korea. It brings down large animals, such as ungulates and the occasional bear, with a flying tackle, forcing its canines into the prey’s throat or spine. Photo: D. Finnin/ AMNH