Smithsonian Channel

The start of “Darwinmania” has begun as historians and scientists alike recognized the accomplishments of Charles Robert Darwin. July 1, 2008 marked the 150th anniversary of his work “On the Origin of Species,” which helped to explain the theories of evolution and natural selection. In their June issue, Smithsonian Magazine featured a piece on the biologist and the New York Times is publishing a series by evolutionary biologist, Olivia Judson, celebrating Darwin’s work.

Portrait of Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), uploaded to Flickr by Smithsonian Institution

Recently I had a chance to sit down with Chris Hoelzl, vice president of programming research and development at Smithsonian Channel to hear some interesting things he had to say about the genius.

CH: “I bet most people didn’t know that Darwin was a hunter. I only know this because I handled one of the birds he shot at the National Museum of American History, an ivory billed woodpecker. I’m not sure how this dead bird ended up at the museum, but amazingly enough it still had the tag attached to its leg written in Darwin’s handwriting.”

In addition to this prized bird with the famous tag, I learned that the NMAH houses a collection of dead birds that is one of the most extensive in the world.

So you might be asking yourself, how did Chris get to see this collection anyway?

Well, expert Carla Dove took him on a tour of the collection for an upcoming episode of Smithsonian Channel’s new talk show, Smithsonian Spotlight. Carla is heading up an initiative at the Smithsonian Institution to “bar code” the DNA of every bird in North America.

What the heck is bar coding and why is it important? Are we looking to sell them at some sort of Bird Superstore?   I don’t think that’s their intention, so I’d suggest you check out the show to find out more and get back to me.