New Exhibition Lizards & Snakes: Alive! leaps into Fernbank Museum of Natural History February 10 - August 12, 2007
Captivating Exhibition Showcases Over 60 Live Lizards and Snakes from around the World

ATLANTA, GA (October 26, 2006) - Lizards & Snakes: Alive!, an engaging exhibition that features more than 60 live lizards and snakes from five continents, leaps into Fernbank Museum of Natural History on February 10, 2007. On view through August 12, 2007, the exhibition introduces visitors to a diversity of squamates—the group that includes legged and legless lizards, including snakes. Lizards & Snakes showcases live animals and their remarkable adaptations, including projectile tongues, deadly venom, amazing camouflage, and sometimes surprising modes of locomotion. Representing 26 species found in countries such as Australia, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Sudan and the United States, the specimens range from a four-inch Tropical Girdled Lizard to a 14-foot Burmese Python and are shown in custom habitats complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock ledges and live plants.

   Lizards & Snakes: Alive! is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, and the San Diego Natural History Museum, with appreciation to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland. 

   “We’re looking forward to bringing Lizards & Snakes: Alive! to Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Showcasing live animals in the context of their ecological environments, natural history, family relationships and diverse adaptations is a unique way to explore these reptiles,” said Susan E. Neugent, President and CEO of Fernbank Museum of Natural History. “It’s also exciting to continue our ongoing relationship with the American Museum of Natural History and to build a new relationship with the San Diego Natural History Museum. We are especially proud to be recognized in this collaboration for our expertise in family-friendly educational components that appeal to visitors of all ages.”

   Lizards & Snakes: Alive! features a broad array of squamates, including a Burmese Python, Water Monitor, Rhinoceros Iguana, and Veiled Chameleon; Eastern Water Dragons, geckos, Blue-tongued Skinks, Gila Monsters, Emerald and Amazonian Tree Boas and Campbell’s Milk Snakes. One case in the exhibition includes four species of geckos: Madagascan Giant Day Geckos, Common Leaf-tailed Geckos, Lined Leaf-tailed Geckos and Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Geckos. The case is equipped with cameras that allow visitors to zoom in on the geckos for a closer look. 

   “Lizards & Snakes: Alive! dispels many mistaken notions,” said Darrel Frost, Associate Dean of Science for Collections and curator of Lizards & Snakes: Alive! at the American Museum of Natural History. “For instance, snakes are not slimy and are just an amazingly successful group of lizards that have lost their legs. Visitors to this exhibition will learn about the amazing diversity of squamates—a group composed of roughly 8,000 known species of lizards and snakes—and how they have evolved into many shapes and sizes and have come to live in so many habitats.”

   The exhibition examines many aspects of squamates, including differences in hunting strategies. One group, the “sight hounds”—a group of about 1,400 species including iguanas and their relatives—like humans, rely mostly on vision, not smell, to find their dinners and mates, and use their tongues to capture their food. On the other hand, the “nose hounds”—a large group containing monitors, skinks, and snakes—use a highly evolved chemoreceptive system that collects chemical clues from the environment with forked tongues and delivers them to special sense organs on the roofs of their mouths. Another focus is how snakes, among the most evolutionarily successful vertebrates on Earth, have compensated for the absence of limbs with thermal vision, complex venom-delivery systems, constriction and expandable jaws that allow them to swallow prey many times larger than their own heads.

   Lizards & Snakes: Alive! also offers numerous interactive stations throughout the exhibition, inviting visitors to listen to recorded squamate sounds, get a close-up look at live geckos, test their knowledge about squamates, guide a virtual rattlesnake on a search for prey, and view videos of lizards and snakes. An activity center for children features hands-on activities, including touchable skin casts, puzzles, question-and-answer sliders, games and more.

   “Providing visitors, especially children, hands-on components within the exhibition makes information easy to understand and fun to learn, which ultimately means visitors are likely to remember what they read and observe,” said Fernbank’s Director of Environmental Education, Heather Heimmer, a biologist who worked closely on the development of the exhibition. “Fernbank has a strong commitment to active family learning, which is apparent throughout this exhibition.”

   Lizards & Snakes will also feature a variety of fossil specimens and fossil casts. Among the highlights is a fossil cast of Megalania, the largest-known terrestrial squamate, which attained lengths up to 30 feet. This ancient relative of today’s Monitor Lizards lived in Australia during the Pleistocene (from 1.6 million to 40,000 years ago).

   Informative text panels throughout the exhibition discuss a range of topics, from different methods of catching prey, to different forms of defense, to squamate relationships. A large cladogram—a diagram that groups animals by common ancestry—notes that scientists still do not know where snakes belong in the family tree, underscoring the dynamic nature of science. Spectacular close-up photography by the American Museum’s Denis Finnin and stunning high-definition video reveal the extraordinary world of squamates.

“Lizards & Snakes: Alive! will be a very fun and engaging exhibition for everyone, whether you love lizards or aren’t quite sure yet,” Heimmer said. “After seeing how beautiful and captivating these animals are, I think a lot of people who were once afraid will find themselves rooting for reptiles!”

More Information: 

§ Special Programming

Fernbank Museum will also present an array of public programs in conjunction with Lizards & Snakes: Alive!, including lectures, children’s programming, animal encounters, Fernbank’s annual Reptile Day, classes and more.

§ Retail

Visitors can also explore the Lizards & Snakes Store located at the exit of Lizards & Snakes: Alive! The shop features a wide selection of lizard- and snake-themed merchandise, including an assortment of jewelry, novelty toys, stationery, clothing for adults and children, and a diverse collection of educational and scientific books, DVDs and videos. 

§ Travel Packages

Hotel packages will be available for visitors who wish to combine their Museum visit with an extended stay. Check Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Web site at www.fernbankmuseum.org for more information. 

§ Exhibition Tour

Lizards & Snakes: Alive! is on view at Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta from February 10, 2007–August 12, 2007, and then will travel to the San Diego Natural History Museum from October 16, 2010–April 3, 2011. The exhibition debuted at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in 2006.

§ Fernbank Museum of Natural History Location and Hours
Fernbank Museum is located at 767 Clifton Road in Atlanta. The Museum is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Fernbank is closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

§ Public Information
For additional information, the public may call 404.929.6300 or visit the Museum’s Web site at www.fernbankmuseum.org . Tickets can be purchased by phone at 404.929.6400.

§ Sponsors
Media support provided by Atlanta Magazine and The Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Collaborating Institutions:

Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta

As one of the South’s preeminent museums, Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History is a gateway for discovery and exploration, unfolding the story of the earth’s history, the physical universe, the environment, and human culture through exhibitions, dynamic programs, and films in the IMAX® Theatre. Opened in 1992, Fernbank is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is “Atlanta’s Home to Dinosaurs,” a reputation highlighted by Giants of the Mesozoic, which features the world’s largest dinosaurs.

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History ( www.amnh.org ) is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures and the natural world through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its extensive facilities and resources. The institution houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and cultural artifacts. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, and the Physical Sciences. 

San Diego Natural History Museum

The San Diego Natural History Museum is the second oldest scientific institution in California; third west of the Mississippi. A binational Museum, its mission is to interpret the natural world through research, education, and exhibits; to promote understanding of the evolution and diversity of southern California and the peninsula of Baja California, and to inspire in all a respect for nature and the environment.