Evon Hekkala

Evon Hekkala

Jun 14, 2016

Group 6 Copy 82
1

Time traveling this week..

Hi Everyone,

This is just a quick update to let you know that Taylor and I have begun sampling the specimens in the museum collections @AMNH and at the Smithsonian to fill in some samples and species for this project and for several other projects we are working on. We are trying to understand how different crocodile species have exchanged genes over the past few hundred years and whether the rate of hybridization has changed with climate change and land use changes. The historical collections are amazing resources and really interesting as researchers often wrote notes directly on the specimens. This is an American crocodile skull with notes from when it was ID'd as Crocodylus americanus and Charles Mook wrote about it's slender snout..


1 comment

Join the conversation!Sign In

About This Project

Why did alchemists hang crocodiles from the ceilings of their shops? Why did ancient Egyptians worship crocodiles? We noticed that crocodiles can recover from extreme injury.. What is the source of this resilience? New studies suggest that crocodiles have a unique ability to fight infection. Become a backer and help us sequence genes of crocodiles and discover the source of the myth of the Apothecary Crocodiles. There's a good chance we'll find some new tools in the fight against human diseases.

Blast off!

Browse Other Projects on Experiment

Related Projects

Impact of Urbanization and Coastal Change on Florida's Mangrove Ecosystems

Impacts to Mangrove fringe forests leave coastal areas vulnerable to erosion and sea-level rise. Over 600...

Alpine plant biodiversity: why is it so high?

Alpine plant communities exhibit a high number of species, possibly due to plants' ability to make extra...

Backer Badge Funded

Add a comment