How Our Assets Can Be Used for Education

photo by David Herr

By the time the first ancestral human beings appeared, some 14 million years ago, birds had been flying and running for about 136 million years. Humans evolved in a world saturated with birds. Undoubtedly our ancestors studied the birds closely, as birds probably contributed to their food supply. While that may have been the most basic connection, it's clear from everything from hieroglyphics to Audubon's paintings that birds have been noticed and studied closely by man. The materials in the Macaulay Library contribute to those studies by offering a window into the behavior of birds and other animals.

Case Studies

Learn About Urban Birds
A Lab of Ornithology program helps scientists learn more about urban birds. They use video from the Library to help teach bird identification.

An Exhibit Uses Frog Sounds
A popular new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History called "Frogs -- A Chorus of Colors" uses frog sounds from the Library to teach about frog diversity. You can hear some of the sounds on their web site.

Philadelphia Zoo
A new exhibit at the zoo called "Peco Jungle Trek" focuses on the world's most exotic and endangered primates. Part of the exhibit is a rainforest hike. Visitors hear sounds while walking through the forest and are challenged to identify them. The Library provided Orangutan, Bellbird, Howler Monkey and other sounds for the exhibit.

Resources

Recording Knowledge Base

Recording Workshop

Field Recording Equipment

History of Macaulay Library