Junior Internship Blog
May 16th-June 10th
Pursuing science in our Natural History Museums!
This experience has shaped a part of myself that I thought was set in stone. As someone who loves Paleontology more than any other science, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the other disciplines offered.
I saw the importance of specializing in plants, arthropods, and herps. I was amazed at my level of enjoyment, it was incredible. I still want to be in the natural sciences for sure, of course, but my interests have been opened up even further, and I am indecisive. Is that a good or a bad thing? I guess we'll see! My mentors were nothing but wonderful and informative, and I strive to be able to know as much as they do in their fields one day. The other employees had more varied personalities, but they were very interesting to be with for hours at a time. Everyone was far more laid back than I expected. It was so friendly and fun. I'm going to miss it. Maybe I'll do it next year?
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While I do not have a specific project I worked on during internship, I do have one example of where my work will appear. In Herpetology, I took pictures of dead specimens of Californian herps. These photos will appear on HerpAtlas when you map a species(http://herpatlas.sdnhm.org/). You can check out some of the species I photographed by looking at creatures like the Bipes and Kingsnakes. In each of my departments, I worked on Baja California specimens. These are important because they can surveyed for study. This can lead to conservation efforts and a better understanding of a nearby peninsula. This includes sorting insects for Entomology, photography for Herps, invertebrate cleaning for Paleo, and plant mounting for Botany. No one project is complete, but I did my part to help get those sections of museum work closer to completion. My presentation slides can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bCMOBNcIrKubG2o0Fzp_ptfyPafxS0ZVS97cPV0-a-I/edit#slide=id.gc6f972163_0_0 I truly feel as if I've contributed something important to my museum, and I haven't even entered Botany yet! How is this so? Well...
It all started with a jar of insects from Camp Pendleton, which would help the military understand the creatures around them when they train and build. It was a massive undertaking, but it was all for the protection of the smaller animals in our area. Next, I helped my Herpetology mentor, Laura, take pictures of dozens of reptiles and amphibians to put on a museum site, HerpAtlas. It would educate SoCal residents undertsand and identify the herps nearby. Now, I am cleaning and finalizing marine fossils from Baja California. The task needed to be done, and I have a hand in beautifying the specimens for future study. I have learned so much, from taxonomy, to anatomy, to tool use, to everything in between. Who would have known that I could expand my knowledge so much farther than what I thought I knew! Now I can identify arthropods, from coleoptera to embidiina, edit photos, and discuss theories and knowledge with spunky paleontologists. Those who work at the museum aren't serious people. They are laid-back, friendly, boisterous, eccentric, and very, very intelligent. You can't speak to them without learning something, and they are more than happy to help and explain things. I look up those qualities. I want to be a scientist. This has been something I've been sure of for quite a long time. This just enforces what I already knew. I feel like I've learned so much. I plan to become a regular volunteer there as well! There's a real connection there. |