Draper Museum Lunchtime Expedition Talk, Bats and Bones
Written by Caleb Nelson on August 22, 2022
On Thursday, September 1, 2022, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West will host another lunchtime expedition talk from 12-1 p.m. in the Coe Auditorium. For those who cannot attend the talk in person, the event can also be attended virtually by registering here.
Draper Natural History Museum Interim Curator Corey Anco
Buffalo Bill Center of West’s Draper Natural History Museum has been busy this year showcasing everything from bear skeleton articulation to new bat research. Interim Curator Corey Anco will share the details of Draper’s current and new projects in the next Lunchtime Expedition lecture on September 1st at noon. The free talk is titled “Bats & Bones: What’s New at the Draper” and takes place in the Center’s Coe Auditorium.
One part of Anco’s presentation will focus on a unique Artist-in-Residence program from this past June. It featured Lee “The Boneman” Post. Post worked with the Draper Museum staff and volunteers as well as Center interns to reconstruct the skeletons of a grizzly bear and a mountain lion. With the skeletons completed, staff are working to fabricate professional mounts for each. Anco will explain the articulation process and methods.
The articulated skeletons of a standing grizzly bear and a mountain lion, assembled at the Draper Museum in June. Photo by Corey Anco.
Anco will next outline the details of a new and ambitious pilot research program. The program, which began in July, monitors bats in alpine ecosystems. Wyoming is home to 18 species of bats, 11 of which are listed as species of greatest conservation need according to the Wyoming Game & Fish Department.
“However,” notes Anco, “monitoring for bats in remote ecosystems is challenging given the weight of the equipment and difficulty of traveling over rugged terrain.” Discussing the goals of the project, along with the methods employed to monitor bats, he will share a few stories from the first year of this 3-year study.
Speaker Bio:
Corey Anco is the Interim Curator of the Draper Natural History Museum. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Lewis University, a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, and a Master of Science in Biology from Fordham University. He has worked with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey.
Anco held additional positions with the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative and Wildlife Conservation Society before joining the Draper Natural History Museum in 2017. Outside of the museum, he enjoys cooking, playing guitar, and backpacking in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Support for the Draper Museum’s Lunchtime Expedition lecture series has been made possible by Sage Creek Ranch and the Nancy-Carroll Draper Charitable Foundation.
