Extinction - Marc Schlossman

Label on a Charles Island Tortoise specimen (Geochelone nigra galapagoensis)
This work on extinct and endangered birds was made in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and is part of a larger ongoing project on the processes of extinction and loss of biodiversity. The Field Museum is one of the most important collections of its kind in the world. Not only do collections give us our only opportunities now to see extinct plants and animals, but they are immensely valuable in the work to find out as much as we can about life on Earth as the rate of extinction increases.

At the end of this series is a film made with Panos Pictures, ‘Extinction and Conservation at The Field Museum, Chicago’ (4:52 in length).
Ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), collected in 1883
Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis bairdii), collected in 1887
Ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principals)
Cinnamon screech owl (Megascops petersoni)
Peregrine falcon eggs from 1899 (Falco peregrinus anatum)
Eggshells in the Birds Division of the Field Museum of Natural History
Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Whooping crane (Grus americana)
California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) – extinct
Eggshells of Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
Santa Catarina Leaf Frog (Phrynomedusa appendiculata)
Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys mawii)
Charles Island Tortoise (Geochelone nigra galapagoensis) – extinct
Egyption tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni) – critically endangered
Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), a cleared and stained specimen – critically endangered
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) – endangered
Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) – endangered
Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
Galapagos tortoise (Geochelone nigra nigrita) – endangered
Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) – vulnerable
Master roll of sequentially numbered paper specimen tags. As new specimens are entered into the collection, they are tagged with a unique number from this roll. When this single roll is finished, a curator orders the next sequence of numbers. The sequence began with 0001 in the late 1800's.
Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) – critically endangered
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