Video Collections

This lecture features Terrance Gosliner, Senior Curator and Dean of Science and Research Collections for the Academy's Department of Invertebrate Zoology.

Dr. Jack Dumbacher, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the California Academy of Sciences, talks about his field expeditions to Papua New Guinea. Some of the best discoveries in science are completely serendipitous. Dr. Dumbacher discovered, quite by accident, that a common New Guinea bird uses potent poisons for protection -- a defense never before documented in birds.

Ants may be tiny, but they play a huge role in their ecosystems. In fact, biologists estimate that the collective weight of all the ants on Earth is equal to the weight of all humans.

In this talk, Dr. Brian Fisher describes the unique behaviors and incredible adaptations of our planet's most charismatic small animals. See how ants farm, hunt and tend "herds of livestock." Learn how primitive Dracula ants feed on their sisters' blood.

Watch the fastest recorded movement of any animal -- a feisty ant with lightning-quick jaws that Dr. Fisher filmed with one of the world's most advanced high-speed cameras. You'll also learn about Dr. Fisher's conservation efforts in Madagascar and gain new respect for our smallest neighbors.

Vic Smith talks about Entomology (studying insects) in this session of Academy Chat with a Scientist