Snakes, Albertus Seba (illustrations 1734-65)

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2013 

Year of the Snake begins February 10, 2013 

The snake is sometimes referred to as the “junior dragon” because of its dragon-like appearance and predatory nature. What the snake lacks in limbs, it makes up for in trickery, deception, and lethal mastery. Picking up scents with its forked tongue, the snake slithers its way toward its victim, masking itself with chemicals produced by musk glands, slyly and stylishly slithering its way toward mate or prey. 

People born during the year of the snake are said to be sophisticated, calm, somewhat unemotional, and perhaps a little paranoid. However, they are also known to be determined, quick-thinking, sharply enthusiastic, and able to create their own destinies. 

祝贺大家新年好！

The Tale of the Golden Toad, by Madeline Von Foerster. 

Roq La Rue Art Gallery, Seattle WA:  

“Although imagining the future, a common theme of the paintings is memory. While researching these works, the artist hunted for a fairytale titled “The Golden Toad,” which she was certain she had read. However, memory was deceiving her, for the Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes) is actually a Costa Rican amphibian, recently extinct. Ironically, though humans are responsible for the planet’s vanishing forests and extirpated species, it is in human imagination and memory that these lost treasures will continue to exist. Therefore, the Golden Toad, now gone, returns in mythical form, to remind us what we can still save.”

Extinct since 2004.

Cabinet of Curiosity: the long-lost collection of Alfred Russel Wallace (1832-1913), the British naturalist who independently proposed the “theory of natural selection.” (Charles Darwin, who was influenced by Wallace’s work, published his own theory shortly after Wallace.) 

Explore Wallace’s amazing collection, drawer by drawer, at the Natural History Museum online.