Follow a herpetologist to madagascar Curator Christopher Raxworthy’s Blog on The New York Times Website Brings Field Research and Adventure to the Classroom and Office
Christopher Raxworthy, curator in the Department of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, has been to Madagascar more than 30 times to conduct field research on this island nation’s chameleons, frogs, and lizards. Now you can follow him to the summit of Mt. Marojejy, as he climbs through tropical rainforests, bamboo thickets, and low-lying scrub to camp at nearly 7,000 feet. For the next few weeks, Raxworthy’s thoughts, discoveries, and photographs will be posted as the inaugural blog for The New York Times’s “Scientist At Work: Notes from the Field” (scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com).
“We are delighted that this new blog brings the process of science to countless readers. This highlights yet another way that Museum scientists and educators are using digital technologies to share new thinking and approaches to scientific discovery and learning with the public,” says Ellen V. Futter, President of the Museum. “Scientific research is at the heart of this institution, and that research hinges on the weeks and months that our curators, like Chris Raxworthy, spend in the field.”
“Time now for the editor to step back and let the scientist start talking,” writes The New York Times Deputy Science Editor James Gorman. “Dr. Raxworthy says the best part of each visit to Madagascar is the first night in the forest, because it is such hard work to get there, and you never know what you will find…”
Raxworthy is currently researching the evolutionary relationships among geckos and chameleons using molecular and morphological traits and remotely sensed data (from satellites) to help predict the distributions and model the ecological niches of species. His current field adventure in mountainous northern Madagascar is part of this research. Mt. Marojejy has not been adequately surveyed for many years and no one has spent more than a few hours documenting the species that live on the summit. Raxworthy is also associate dean for Science Education and Exhibition at the Museum.
