When people think of museums, they usually think of various kinds of objects--artistic paintings, Egyptian mummies, stuffed animals—you name it. Now museum people like beautiful or rare objects as much as anyone, and maybe more. After all, we not only can admire a fascinating thing ourselves, but we also can take joy in seeing the happiness it brings to others. That's part of the reason we're in the profession.
But as researchers, we're often forced to admit that the real value
often is in the data, not the object. This certainly is true when we are talking of
natural history objects. A stuffed packrat without data, for example, might be useful
for teaching someone what a packrat looks like, or perhaps in a diorama showing a
desert night scene. But its value for research? Zilch! The same animal with the exact
locality and date of capture, along with notes on ecology and reproductive condition,
is grist for studies in taxonomy, biogeography, community ecology, and life history—and
still is perfectly usable for teaching and display.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.