LS Students Encounter Rare Nile Crocodile Mummies

LS students studying science as a way of knowing, wildlife population genetics, and Darwinian Evolution in Professor Leo Douglas’ Environmental Studies class recently had the opportunity to explore these themes up close. The class went behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History, visiting the lab where 2000 year-old remains of ancient crocodiles of the Nile River basin are being studied. This groundbreaking research has sown that Nile crocodiles were historically two separate species—one being an icon of Egyptian pharaonic power well represented as mummies buried with pharaonic families, the other becoming the ancestor of the American crocodile.