Sign-In
Cart
Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunker
Paperback
Biographies GeneralPaleontologyZoology
ISBN13: 9780700627738
Publisher: Univ Pr Of Kansas
Published: Apr 26 2019
Pages: 232
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.60 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
Finalist: High Plains Book Award
A Kansas Notable Book
Winner: Martin Kansas History Book Award
Winner: Looks Like a Million Award
Every day, in natural history museums all across the country, colonies of dermestid beetles diligently devour the decaying flesh off of animal skeletons that are destined for the museum's specimen collection. That time-saving process was developed and perfected at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum by Charles D. Bunker, a lowly assistant taxidermist who would rise to become the curator of recent vertebrates and who made an indelible mark on his field. That innovative breakthrough serves as a testament to the tenacity of a quietly determined naturalist.
Bunker was part of the small team of men who constructed and installed the famous Panorama of North American Mammals, the centerpiece exhibit of the KU Natural History Museum located in Dyche Hall. That iconic building on the KU campus was expressly built to house the collection of mounted animals that impressed the world a decade earlier at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition and World's Fair.
Once the panorama was completed, Bunker turned his attention to field collecting. Bunker's field notes provide an accurate, authentic account of several expeditions to collect such specimens as well as a rare view of the extreme hardships of fieldwork in those early days. Perhaps most notable is Bunk's 1911 expedition to western Kansas, where he discovered the fossil remains of a forty-five-foot-long sea serpent--later identified as Tylosaurus proriger, an aquatic reptile from the mosasaur genus and the largest example of the species found in North America. In 2014, Tylosaurus was named the marine fossil of the state of Kansas.
Birds, Bones, and Beetles tells the story of a man whose passion for learning led to remarkable discoveries, extraordinary exhibits, and the prestigious careers of many students he mentored in the natural sciences.
1 different editions
Also available
Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunker
Warner, Charles H.
Hardcover
Also in
Zoology
The Pig and I: The Tale of Our Relationship with a Beast We Eat
Endresen, Kristoffer Hattleland
Hardcover
National Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Birds: Eastern Region: Eastern
National Audubon Society
Paperback
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
Montgomery, Sy
Paperback
Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World
Werb, Dan
Hardcover
Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites
Martins, Dino
Hardcover
The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care
Preston, Elizabeth
Hardcover
A Bird's IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World
Lefebvre, Louis
Hardcover
Romp!: A Journey Through the Natural History of Otters and Why They Matter
Island, Heide, PhD
Hardcover
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canada, 8th Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
What Sheep Think about the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say
Thomas, Amelia
Paperback
Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals Around the World
Rothman, Julia
Paperback
Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China
Slaght, Jonathan C.
Hardcover
Yellowstone Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Animals of the Yellowstone Area
Kavanagh, James
Other
Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research
Kaplan, Melanie D. G.
Hardcover
Adorable Animals (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 2)
National Geographic Kids
Quattlebaum, Mary
Paperback
Running with Sherman: How a Rescue Donkey Inspired a Rag-Tag Gang of Runners to Enter the Craziest Race in America
McDougall, Christopher
Paperback
Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans
Angell, Tony
Marzluff, John
Paperback
The National Parks Traveler's Companion: A Journal Featuring Bucket Lists, Writing Prompts, and Passport Stamp Logs
Potter Gift
Federman, Rachel
Paperback
Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad: The Biology and Conservation of North America's Favorite Crustaceans
Graham, Zackary A.
Paperback
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird
Montgomery, Sy
Hardcover
Elephants and Their Fossil Relatives: A 60 Million Year Journey
Ferretti, Marco P.
Larramendi, Asier
Hardcover
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild
Anthony, Lawrence
Spence, Graham
Paperback
Backyard Birds of North America: A Guide to Identifying and Attracting Your Favorite Birds
O'Sullivan, Daniel
Hardcover
A Year with the Seals: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sea's Most Charismatic and Controversial Creatures
Morris, Alix
Hardcover
East Africa Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species in Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda
Kavanagh, James
Paperback
The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals
Lomax, Dean R.
Nicholls, Robert
Hardcover
A Horse's Life: The Neuroscience of Equine Welfare
Rashid, Mark
McDonald, Crissi
Peters, Stephen
Paperback
Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
Bridle, James
Paperback
Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals about the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize
Gregg, Justin
Hardcover
The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science
York, Carly Anne
Hardcover
National Geographic the Photo Ark: One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals
Sartore, Joel
Chadwick, Douglas H.
Hardcover
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canadaâ "West, 2nd Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States: Your Way to Easily Identify Bees and Look-Alikes
Holm, Heather
Paperback
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
Montgomery, Sy
Hardcover
The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals
Tuttle, Merlin
Paperback
Pacific Coast Bird Finder: Identifying Common Birds Along the Pacific Coast
Lederer, Roger J.
Paperback
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think
Ackerman, Jennifer
Paperback
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canadaâ "East, 2nd Edition
Floyd, Ted
Paperback
Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates
Moskowitz, David
Paperback
Animal Tracks of the Northeast: Your Way to Easily Identify Animal Tracks
Poppele, Jonathan
Paperback
East Africa Birds: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species in Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda
Kavanagh, James
Paperback
What the Bears Know: How I Found Truth and Magic in America's Most Misunderstood Creatures--A Memoir by Animal Planet's the Bear Whisperer
Erskine, Chris
Searles, Steve
Paperback
Amazon Animals (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 3/Fact Reader): 100 Fun Facts about Snakes, Sloths, Spiders, and More
Davidson, Rose
National Geographic Kids
Paperback
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
The Handbook Of Nature Study in Color - Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Invertebrates
Comstock, Anna
Paperback
Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History
Wagner, David L.
Paperback
Introduction to Animal and Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology
Aspinall, Victoria
Cappello, Melanie
Paperback