Kirven Land Mammals Lecture San Diego Natural History Museum

A wide-ranging mammalogy lecture that opens by cautioning against misleading wildlife media and encourages seeking experts—“a curator of mammalogy here at the museum.” The talk defines mammals and contrasts homeothermy with poikilothermy, then surveys physiological adaptations: torpor, hibernation, and estivation (with a memorable field-trip account of a poorwill in torpor). From there, it moves through locomotion modes—ambulatory, cursorial, arboreal, and volant—using examples from bats to jackrabbits/hares, and touches on ethics and the necessity of physiological research.

The second half focuses on dentition and orders. The speaker distinguishes lagomorphs vs. rodents (grooved incisors; pika noted), reviews Rodentia (including the diverse Peromyscus deer mice), and clarifies that house mice and true rats (Rattus) are human-introduced urban associates. In Carnivora, coyote and bobcat skulls illustrate feeding adaptations, with a discussion of the saber-toothed cat and a “blood groove” analogy. The session closes with Artiodactyla (cloven hooves, dewclaws) and remarks on horses’ historical absence as native modern fauna, all tied to local exhibits and slides within the museum.