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Walnut the Crane dead at 42
White-naped Crane Walnut and her keeper/husband, Chris Crowe, in 2021. (Photo: Roshan Patel via NZCBI)
Internet sensation Walnut the Crane became ill on January 2, 2024 and passed away at age 42 at her home at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) campus in Front Royal, VA. A necropsy revealed the cause of death to be renal failure. Walnut far outlived the average life expectancy for White-naped Cranes in captivity, which is 15 years. She leaves behind her husband, zookeeper Chris Crowe, with whom she had 8 offspring, including two housed at the NZCBI: daughter Brenda, age 18, and a granddaughter, age 1.
“Walnut was a unique individual with a vivacious personality,” Crowe said. “She was always confident in expressing herself, an eager and excellent dancer, and stoic in the face of life’s challenges. I’ll always be grateful for her bond with me. Walnut’s extraordinary story has helped bring attention to her vulnerable species’ plight.” (x)
White-naped Cranes are native to Mongolia, northeast China and southeast Russia, wintering in the Korean DMZ, Japan, and China. Habitat loss to agriculture, development, and ongoing droughts are factors in their decline, leaving them classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Walnut was an important contributor to efforts to restore the species.
Edit: for those unaware, I refer to the zookeeper as her husband because Walnut was imprinted on humans, meaning she considered him her mate and performed displays and courtship for him. As a zookeeper he was responsible for artificially inseminating the bird. This and more was the source of her viral fame.
#walnut the crane#conservation#crane husband#birds#white-naped crane#smithsonian#I visited the NZCBI last year and could hear various crane calling on campus
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The Smithsonian has made over 4,000,000 images in its archive open source.
An example:
Fishing Cat, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Photo by Mehgan Murphy.
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What's up MASHblr I went to the National Museum of American History last week and they had the signpost on display and I was sooo normal about it I swear
#i didn't know it was there so I had a Moment when I turned and saw it#mash#m*a*s*h#mashblr#national museum of american history#smithsonian#also the group photo on the side. precious#i promise I am capable of being average#personal
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Early 1969 Blue faded Cookie Monster model
This puppet is the original Cookie Monster puppet created in 1969 for Sesame Street. He is able to feed himself because his hands are simply gloves for the performer’s hands, and he has a hole in his mouth that runs down the performer’s sleeve. The cookies that are eaten by Cookie Monster are rice crackers that are made to look like cookies because the oils from actual cookies would damage the puppet.
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This original Uhura uniform is part of the Afrofuturism exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. The item on the left is the flight suit Trayvon Martin wore when he attended a program called Experience Aviation.
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Edit after Henry Wolf (Le Crepuscule) (Smithsonian)
(Ed. Lic.: CC BY-NC 3.0)
#classical art#moonlight#moon#night#sea#reflection#seascape#new pd edit#nightified#smithsonian#CC BY NC
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Muppet Fact #1048
According to a study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, scientists have discovered a 270-million-year-old amphibamiform in Texas. The fossil was originally uncovered by the late Nicholas Hotton III. Due to the "cartoonishly wide-eyed face," the researchers have named the newly discovered species after Kermit the Frog, calling the proto-amphibian Kermitops gratus.
According to lead author Calvin So, they used Kermit's name in hopes of bridging the gap between the scientific community and the general public:
"Using the name Kermit has significant implications for how we can bridge the science that is done by paleontologists in museums to the general public. Because this animal is a distant relative of today’s amphibians, and Kermit is a modern-day amphibian icon, it was the perfect name for it.”
Sources:
Smithsonian. “Researchers Name Prehistoric Amphibian Ancestor Discovered in Smithsonian Collection After Kermit the Frog.” EurekAlert!, March 21, 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1037759.
So, Calvin, Jason D. Pardo, and Arjan Mann. “A New Amphibamiform From the Early Permian of Texas Elucidates Patterns of Cranial Diversity Among Terrestrial Amphibamiforms.” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, March 21, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae012.
#muppet facts oc#jim henson#the muppets#muppets#muppet facts#fun facts#yes i have decided this is a Chicago style citation blog now i like Chicago style#Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society#Kermitops gratus#Smithsonian#calvin so#Jason D. Pardo#Arjan Mann
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New analysis of 5,000-year-old humans skeletal remains revealed the earliest known direct evidence of horseback riding, based on wear marks of specific bones, including hip sockets, thigh bones, and pelvis.
Still no indication of who was the first person to look at a horse and say, “Hey, you know what? I bet a person could ride that thing.”
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Good Lord, Lawrence! Why are you slapping a monkey? (Night at the museum)
#my artwork#fanart#sketch#illustration#artists on tumblr#quick art#night at the museum#natm#natm jedediah#natm octavius#natm fandom#jedediah and octavius#nostalgic#fav movies#dinosaurs#smithsonian#muesum#movies#such fun movies!
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went to the smithsonian american history museum today and look at who i found
#i was like is that who i think it is???#and my mom immediately recognized him as moon knight lmao#they don’t even list his name i’m pretty sure he’s just there outside one of the exhibits#oscar isaac#moon knight#poe dameron#smithsonian
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The garment’s silk was in good condition, and it still had the original buttons, Rivers Cofield wrote on her blog. The buttons appeared to have images of Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
#shakespeare#william shakespeare#dress#dress history#code#hamlet#ophelia#costume#vintage#smithsonian#silk dress
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Scavengers are essential to ecosystems, and outside of the oceans vultures are the only known obligate scavengers. The removal of festering carcasses helps keep the environment disease-free. Vultures' stomach acid is especially corrosive, allowing them to safely digest rotten food that would be lethal to other scavengers.
Smithsonian Channel
+bonus+
it can be very hard work...
#smithsonian#africa#zambia#vultures#aves#accipitridae#accipitriformes#gypaetinae#scavenger#request#why-birds
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A 1992 TMBG concert ticket currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, as part of the new temporary exhibit "Cellphone: Unseen Connections;" with label, and context in a "Before Cellphones" section.
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Oscar the Grouch is a live-hand puppet, which means that one of the performer’s hands is in the puppet’s head while the other is in one of the puppet’s arms, which has gloves for hands. Another puppeteer is usually needed to operate the other arm, which is known as right-handing. This particular Oscar the Grouch puppet was built in the 1970s. It was also used to perform the character Grandpa Grouch at some point in the show's run.
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CATWS 10th Anniversary | March 26th
» Prompts: The Smithsonian for @catws-anniversary
a loving homage to A Softer World and @asofteravenger
#marvel mcu#catws10#stucky#bucky barnes#winter soldier#smithsonian#a softer world#a softer avenger#remix#who the hell is bucky?#jyn makes stuff
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Edit after Frederic Edwin Church (Late Afternoon Sun Over a Stream) (Smithsonian)
(Ed. Lic.: CC BY-NC 3.0)
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