Smithsonian Exhibition On Mysterious Giant Squid Opens

National Tour At Yale Peabody Museum September 25

NEW HAVEN — They inhabit all of the world’s oceans, do battle with sperm whales, and can weigh over 1,000 pounds. Yet giant squid have never been seen in their natural habitat.

“In Search of Giant Squid,” a new Smithsonian traveling exhibition, explores what is known about these mystifying animals and describes scientists’ ongoing efforts to observe them in their undersea environment. Based on the enormously popular permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, “In Search of Giant Squid” opens its national tour at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History on September 25 and will remain on view there through January 2, 2005. The national tour runs through 2008.

The exhibition compares giant squid (Architeuthis dux) with other squids and mollusks and explores what is known about how they hunt, move and defend themselves, based on the research of cephalopod biologists such as Dr Clyde Roper of the National Museum of Natural History. Interactive components allow visitors to compare their size to that of a giant squid and to experience the animal’s presumed environment. A 37-foot model of the creature greets visitors upon arrival.

The Peabody Museum’s role as an early center in the field of cephalopod research makes it a particularly fitting venue to open an exhibition on giant squid. The historic scientific collections of the museum’s Division of Invertebrate Zoology will be tapped for additional material to provide a Peabody perspective.

According to Eric Lazo-Wasem, the senior collections manager in invertebrate zoology and site curator for the exhibition, the Peabody is one of the few institutions that have retained specimens from the rich decade (1871-1881) of giant squid strandings in the North Atlantic, material that significantly contributed to our understanding of this creature.

During that decade, Addison E. Verrill, Yale’s first professor of zoology and the museum’s first curator of zoology – who was widely considered the foremost authority on cephalopods – began writing papers on giant squid. The culmination of his work was a comprehensive monograph for which Peabody material was an invaluable resource.

In the mid-20th Century, Grace Pickford, another Yale scientist, wrote definitive monographs on the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), a purplish black deepwater cephalopod with crimson-tipped arms and prominent luminescent organs. She concluded that is was neither squid nor octopus, but instead belonged to a new intermediate group. She also studied the giant octopus, recognizing a new sub-species based on Peabody Museum specimens.

The Peabody Museum has assembled for display original papers and drawings to accompany rare cephalopod specimens from Yale’s famous collections.  Among the latter are a vampire squid, giant octopus, and parts of giant squid, including tentacular arms, suckers and a complete beak (jaws). Also added are newspaper clippings, watercolors and other memorabilia that are particulary effective in examining the myths and legends surrounding giant squid for centuries.  All of this historical material is unique to the Peabody venue and will greatly enhance the scope of the exhibit.

An additional component focuses on current Yale research on deepwater invertebrates. This includes squid and octopuses that have been collected during recent investigations of isolated undersea mountains, or seamounts, off the New England coast.

“In Search of Giant Squid” was created by the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in partnership with the Discovery Channel; it was made possible by NASA and NOAA.

 The exhibition can be viewed during regular museum hours on Sunday, from noon until 5 pm.

All activities are free with museum admission of $7 adults, $6 seniors, and $5 ages 3-18 and college students with ID. Admission is free for everyone each Thursday from 2 to 5 pm.

The museum is wheelchair accessible. For information call its InfoTape, 203-432-5050, or visit www.Peabody.yale.edu.