Fast-Motion Video: The Making of "Leapers & Creepers"

Visitors at the High Desert Museum frequently tell us our exhibits are so fun and exciting.And, they often think that they are traveling exhibits, built by some museum in a big city and sent on the road. But we create nearly all of our exhibits here at this nonprofit, with our wonderfully talented and dedicated staff.

Click here for a fast-motion video showing how we built a lush, indoor, plant filled environment for more than 20 native and exotic species of frogs and reptiles, from poison dart frogs and chameleons to geckos and snakes. It's our new exhibit Leapers & Creepers: The Living World of Frogs and Reptiles.

One highlight is an area where tortoises roam freely and you can touch them and watch them being fed.

This latest interactive and educational offering allows visitors to learn about these animals’ natural history and conservation issues. The exhibit runs through April 29.

Thanks to our pro photographers who generously donate their time and expertise! This video was shot by Museum volunteer Lee Schaefer, and the photo is by Museum volunteer Abbott Schindler.

Photo Tells True Story for Mining Day

One Museum photograph intrigued Museum volunteer Suzanne Linford, and inspired her to research it:

At the entrance to the Comstock silver and gold hard rock mine in Nevada, 12 men stand in a photograph taken in 1862. They look at us across the 150 years since they posed for this company photo, with their arms crossed over their bare chests. They are the mine supervisors chosen for trusted management positions. They come from Cornwall, England.

Cornwall is the legendary home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable and Merlin the magician. In reality, it is a hard land and an enchanted one, accepting of invasions, grueling work and unseen possibilities.

These Cornishmen came to America because the copper and tin mines at home played out, and the market for these metals dropped in the mid-19th century. They brought knowledge and skills – honed from 2,000 years of such mining. One major invention was the “Cornish engine,” a steam powered engine that pumped water out of mines. This machine helped allow mines to go as deep as 2,000 feet in the Comstock lodes. One adage went that at the bottom of every large hole in the ground, one would find a Cornishman.

The Cornish miners were a mine owners dream. They worked 12-hour work shifts, seven days a week and held pro-management and anti-labor union views. Those who were Methodists didn’t drink alcohol. They were positive and always had a “Cousin Jack” who could fill any job vacancy. Consistent with their cultural heritage that combined hard work and a belief in what was possible, they were said to possess the ability to foresee possible disasters – signaled by underground elves.

Look for the photo in our Spirit of the West exhibit, and take a tour with Suzanne Linford or another volunteer docent daily (except Sundays) at 2:45 p.m. And on Jan. 14, it’s Mining Day! Try your hand at gold panning inside the Spirit of the West exhibit’s re-created 19th-century placer mine and boom town. Have your earnings authenticated at Silver City’s Wells Fargo Bank and take your treasure home! 11am-3pm. $2 per “miner.”

Let Your Spirit Soar as a Wildlife Volunteer

Chances are you’ve been pondering how to make 2012 one of the best years ever: you’ll try new things, challenge yourself, have more fun, accomplish something meaningful and help others.

Imagine working with animals at the High Desert Museum, from eagles and owls to hawks and badgers, helping to care for them and work with them in our acclaimed programs that teach people about our natural world.

Haven’t worked with anything more wild than a house cat? That’s fine, you do not have to have experience. You’ll be trained by our wildlife experts, including Curator of Living Collections Jim Dawson, a raptor biologist who has studied nearly every raptor species in every desert in North America.

Picture yourself here at the Museum’s 135-acre ponderosa pine forest. You hold your breath aa one of our hawks glides toward you. You hold your arm high, wearing a thick, leather raptor’s glove. The wild bird seems to look right into your eyes as it flares its wings and lands on your hand. It’s so close, you see every feather and its powerful talons. You remember to start breathing again.

Few people have an experience such as this, an unparalleled way to connect with the natural world. Raptors lead lives that are spectacular and exciting. You will be a part of it. And you can share it through our programs, drawing visitors into nature and the wild world of birds and inspiring stewardship of our resources.

What better way to think globally and act locally?

Find out more about being a wildlife volunteer. Call Jim Dawson at 541-323-3322. Or click here.

And, if you’re interested a range of ways that you can assist at the Museum from working with wildlife, to giving talks and tours or helping behind the scenes, join us on Jan. 5 for Volunteer Orientation, 10:30-11:30am. RSVP: volunteer@highdesertmuseum.org. Details at highdesertmuseum.org.

Photo by Museum volunteer Todd Carey