Museum Exhibits

In this exhibit the Reed lab shows how we use human lice to better understand certain aspects of human evolution and human migrations around the world. We can do this because lice have been traveling with us for a long time… throughout our evolutionary history. In fact, lice are known from Egyptian and Incan mummies, with the oldest dating back to 10,000 years ago.

To tackle these questions, we gather a large number of lice from all over the world, thanks to our collaborators. In the laboratory, we extract DNA from each louse and use it to compare human louse populations around the globe. Because lice can be transmitted through a host-to-host contact, we can use lice to uncover interactions between populations of humans and even with other hominids such as Neanderthals. If you want to learn more about our research please follow the thumbnails bellow that lead you through our exhibit.

WHAT?

When early humans left Africa and began colonizing other parts of the world, they took a few travel companions with them – parasites. Parasitic lice have been evolving with primates for 25 million years. Each time the primates split into new species their lice did too. Just like their primate hosts, two species of lice that live on chimpanzees and humans today last shared a common ancestor 5-7 million years ago. Head lice have been with us as long as humans have existed.

Lice tell a unique story. Some of the lice living on humans today have their evolutionary origins on our closest cousins, Neanderthals, who lived in Europe until about 20,000 years ago. We can see this by studying the louse DNA, which dates back to the time of Neanderthals. This reveals that modern humans and Neanderthals spent enough time together in Europe that lice moved between them.

As humans fanned out across the globe, from their earliest footsteps they took lice with them. Despised by parents, children and school nurses, these pesky parasites have a lot to say about human evolution.

WHERE?

Human live all over the world, so we collect lice everywhere to reconstruct the routes that humans used to move around the globe.

Use the map below to see if lice are collected where you come from.

WHEN?

Lice have been part of human life and culture for millennia. Two portrayals of women combing lice from children’s hair below.

WHO?

Reed relies on colleagues all over the world to collect lice for this study. Seen here, Katie Shepherd of Lice Solutions (West Palm Beach, Florida) combs lice from children’s hair in Battanbang, Cambodia. This is one way we get lice for our study.

Of Lice and Men exhibit

Of Lice and Men: Louse-Human Coevolution

Of Lice and Men: Postdoctoral researcher Marina Ascunce collects data using a molecular technique called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) to generate millions of copies of fragments of the head louse genome. Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage

Of Lice and Men

Of Lice and Men: As humans fanned out across the globe, from their earliest footsteps they took lice with them. Despised by parents, children and school nurses, these pesky parasites have a lot to say about human evolution.

Of Lice and Men: Lice are collected from far-away places, such as Socotra (an island in the Indian Ocean) and the highlands of Papua Guinea, as well as in Europe, Asia, Africa, and throughout the New World.

painting of adult checking child for lice

Of Lice and Men: Looking for Lice by Jules Pascin (1924).

painting of woman looking for lice on child

Of Lice and Men: Hunting Lice by Gerard ter Borch (1652-1653).

Of Lice and Men: Katie Shepherd

Of Lice and Men: Researchers collecting lice

Faculty and staff from Mammalogy share their thoughts:

“It’s remarkable that a creature so reviled as the louse can tell us so much about our own evolutionary past.”
– David Reed

“Genotyping 1,000 lice worldwide will allow us to reveal the past evolutionary history of modern humans, Neanderthals and probably Homo erectus in one shot.”
– Marina Ascunce

“Human lice are uniquely suited to life as parasites and are only found on humans. Because of this intimate relationship the genome of lice has acted like a data recorder for human evolution.”
– Bret Boyd

The Beetles: A Skeleton Crew | Florida Panther exhibit

Florida Panthers are listed as endangered and are under constant threat in Florida. Their range is limited to south Florida and thanks to a very successful program to breed them with female cats brought in from Texas, the panthers are still hanging on. When a Florida Panther is found dead, it is brought to the Florida Museum where we maintain their remains for future study. An exhibit was shown at the Florida Museum to demonstrate the challenges with Florida Panthers and what the Museum and other state and federal agencies are doing to protect them. The images below are from that exhibit.

The Florida panther, a subspecies of mountain lion found only in South Florida, is threatened by habitat loss and loss of genetic diversity.

When a panther dies, the Museum uses beetles and their larvae to clean the bones for storage and study.

beetles and larvae cleaning panther skull

When a panther dies, the Museum uses beetles and their larvae to clean the bones for storage and study.

By looking at its bones, biologists can learn about the individual – health, previous injuries and cause of death – as well as the population.

With so few panthers, inbreeding causes genetic defects. This kinked tail may be one of many signs of inbreeding. Courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission / Dave Onorato

panther killed by car surrounded by officers

Roads and highways crisscross the Florida panther’s habitat, leading to accidents like this one. Courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission / Dave Onorato