Thursday, March 25, 1971
5
University Daily Kansan
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF DYCHE
Almost hidden in a maze of horns and antlers, Bob Patterson stands in the center of the skull room. Here, dozens of mammal skulls hang elephant ivory is also stored in this room.
The skin room is on the upper floor of Dyche. Patterners and dancers work in the bedroom. All personnel keep in the refrigerator.
Spooner Art Museum is barely visible through this nest in this sanctuary, safe from human interference. small porthole in Dyche's tower. A pigeon has made a
room. The room also contains a seal skin suit worn by Lewis Lindsay Dyche on one of his polar ex-
Lab assistant Rebecca Myers, Kansas City species. The shelves behind her contain over senior, inspect a jar of snakes for a particular 120,000 reptiles.
knowledge. Bonner is in charge of the paleontological division of the museum.
Orville Bonner carefully cleans a fossilized fish. It is a delicate task requiring护理 and expert
Kansan Photos By Bob Hartzler
Tom Collins holds a live and unfriendly Galil, Cailan. The lizard's cage is not as spacious as the desert, but the meals are even more abundant.
The Museum of Natural History is something like an iceberg, said museum Director Philip Humphrey, most of it is unseen. Only a small percentage of Dyche's floorspace is devoted to public exhibit areas. Most of the space is used for offices, research laboratories, and thousands of storage cabinets and shelves.
Bott Patterson, preparator of warm-blooded modern vertebrates, said the museum collection contained 65,000 bird specimens and 125,000 mammal specimens. Tom Collins, preparator of cold-blooded modern vertebrates, said there were 136,000 reptiles and amphibians, and 215,000 fish on the museum's storage shelves.
Deep in the basement of Dyche, Orville Bonner, staff paleontologist, prepares and stores the fossilized remains of dinosaurs that lived 65 million years ago.
It is in these less familiar areas of museums that reputations are made, and KU's museum is rated fourth or fifth in the nation.
Patterson explained that collections of animals, accurately dated and labeled, were necessary because they served as reference points. By comparing new specimens with the reference specimens of the same species, scientists can determine the effects of time and environmental changes on the species.
The extensive collection is source material for many researchers and graduate students, but Patterson emphasized that in order for KU to keep its supremacy, it needs the continuing support of friends. Contributions were needed, he said, so that the museum could continue its research and exhibit programs.
This young bald eagle did not live long enough to grow up to white crown. Eagle or predestine killed this national bird, which will become a museum specimen.