Moe Flannery: Environmental Mysteries Solved Through Skulls

Moe Flannery: Environmental Mysteries Solved Through Skulls

By: Emilie Baxter

I recently got the opportunity to learn more about the significance of skulls through an interview I saw with Maureen “Moe” Flannery, a collections manager in the Ornithology and Mammology Department at the California Academy of Sciences. Many people probably don’t realize that every skull reveals many stories about the way a vertebrate lived, died, and evolved. Moe Flannery has spent nearly a decade working at the California Academy of Sciences, which is a member of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. This gives Moe and her colleagues a license to collect scientific data from dead marine mammals that wash ashore between Bodega Bay and Ano Nuevo, and most recently Sonoma. In this interview, Moe talked about the cause of marine life deaths, what hazards exist in our waters, and what our society can do help prevent the endangerment of these species.

 

Moe and her colleagues begin the process of studying and researching skulls through what is called “harvesting.” One example of this comes from a recent excursion in April. Moe received a call from the Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline (415-289-SEAL) about a dead sea lion on the shores of Half Moon Bay. So she sent a field associate to investigate. The license through the stranding network allows these associates to not only determine the physical characteristics of the sea lion, but to also cut open and remove the skull for research. Once that is done, the mammal will naturally wash out to sea and become a food source for other marine animals.

 

Through examining the tissue around the skull, the bone health, and the mammal's teeth, Moe and her team are very often able to determine the age, sex, cause of death, as well as any potential hazards in the waters. But first, the skulls must go through a rigorous cleaning process. Very often this involves the use of flesh-eating beetles.  The dermestid beetle larvae can eat or “clean” the tissue and meat around a skull in 3 days, making it easier for researchers to examine every aspect of the skull.

 

Moe elaborated on how the different characteristics of a skull can tell a lot about an animal’s life. For instance, by looking at the position of the eyes, you can determine if an animal was a predator or prey. The teeth can also offer clues, such as whether the animal was a carnivore or herbivore. The size of a skull can often help determine age or sex. Finally, by looking at the bone structure and health, you can determine toxins in the environment that are usually just one step away from inflicting humans. Some of those clues include bone loss, deformation, or mutations and sometimes those can be linked back to human involved impacts. While some of these are senseless acts such as hunting or debris masses in the water, other include chemicals released in the environment, certain diseases that are caused by environmental change, or pesticides getting into the oceans. By learning more about how these marine mammals lived and died, we can make better conservation decisions on areas to protect and discover parts of an ecosystem to restore. All of this can help us make better decisions about how we preserve the environment and the animals that live in it.

 

So what can we do? First of all, we can pay attention to any marine life we see wash up dead on the shore. Immediately we should call the hotline so trained and licensed field associates can gather useful information that will help us preserve our environment for generations to come. We can also be careful not to litter or throw debris into our waters. Finally, we can work to protect our marine mammals from harmful human interactions.