The UPLB Museum of Natural History, represented by its management, curators and staff, is saddened and disheartened by the killing of Pamana, one of few remaining Great Philippine Eagles in the wild. The murder of one of the world’s greatest raptors, once described by aviator Charles Lindbergh as the Earth’s...
The ant you see at home may have come from Australia
Biogeographers have long been puzzled with the way plants and animals in the Pacific islands are highly distinct from their counterparts in nearby continents. In fact, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler Antonio Pigafetta had already observed during his voyage to the Philippines in 1521 the biological contrast of the Philippines and the...
How to collect bryophytes for herbaria and natural history museums
Mosses, liverworts and hornworts, collectively known as bryophytes, number to about 20,000 species worldwide. In the Philippines alone, 1,200 species have been reported, making the country one of the most species-rich in Southeast Asia and a haven for botanists and researchers. Those intending to collect these special plants for biodiversity...
Scientific illustration, an indispensable tool for biodiversity research
In this age where digital is preferred to analog and automatic processes lord over those done manually, there is still a truly exceptional skill - a fusion of art and science -- which has found a special way in the heart of scientific research.
Stalking the swallow swarm
It was a few minutes past noon when my phone rang, the Director was calling. He told me that I was to join MNH Curator for birds Dr. Juan Carlos Gonzalez to observe and document some birds in Batangas City with Vice-Chancellor Vicky Espaldon and we would have to leave...
The violent nature of ants
People bitten by ants usually go berserk, quickly brush them aside, making sure that they get squished in the process. We get mad, stomp the ant trails and wish them all dead. Though we humans are the highest, most intelligent form of organism, we also have outrageously animalistic tendencies, which...
Truths on love-struck spiders discussed pre-Valentine’s day
Love (for nature and biodiversity) was truly up in the air on 12 February at the jam packed UPLB MNH Conference Room when Dr. Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, MNH Curator, presented a seminar entitled "Diverse Truths About Lovestruck Spiders" as part of the museum's biodiversity seminar series.
Why are scientific names italicized?
Those wondering why scientific names are italicized ought to remember their biology classes, me too included. Come to think of it, this interesting trivia could have ducked anyone, as it is rather too uninteresting to the common Juan and Maria.