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Home / Museum Info
Daniel M. Brooks, Ph.D
Title: Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Houston Museum of Natural Science
Joined the Museum staff full-time in 1999.
Generally describe the collections you are responsible for.
I oversee all of the Vertebrates specimens (animals with backbones) in the Museum. This not only includes the Farrish Hall of Texas Wildlife, and Frensley/Graham Hall of African Wildlife, but also Collections of primarily birds and mammals. The Museum’s Vertebrate Zoology collection contains over 1500 specimens. Birds represent approximately 65% of the collection, and mammals approximately 30%, with herps and fish being represented to a lesser extent. The Texas coastal bend region is best represented, with other holdings including Africa, and to a lesser extent, Latin America.
Philosophies
My goals for the Collection have been to completely and systematically reorganize it, complete information for the database, and selectively increase our coastal Texas, Africa, and Latin American holdings. This is accomplished by preparing primarily salvaged specimens, mostly acquired through wildlife rehabilitators and zoos. A constant effort is made to encourage and facilitate the use of the collections for research by students, scholars and interested scientists.
I also provide tours, training, and content for Exhibits relating to Vertebrate Zoology. For example, in 2000, we renovated signage in the Farrish Hall of Texas Wildlife, and the Frensley/Graham Hall of African Wildlife was completely re-done ground up 2002–04.
HMNS responsibilities - What do you do at the Museum?
Most of my time is spent in the following areas:
- Curating and managing the collection
- Scouting, creating and planning new exhibits
- Education, Outreach and Research
Personal Notes
Why did you decide to work in a Museum?
My fascination with critters began at a very young age, when my father and I kept exotic gamebirds as a hobby. My mother was very good about keeping me cultured though, enrolling me in Nature classes at HMNS and other places when I was a kid, and later taking me to visit larger museums in the northeast when we were visiting family or vacationing. It was during one of these visits, that I recall being completely overwhelmed at the mount of a Dodo bird at AMNH in New York – how did they recreate something that was extinct? I was extremely fascinated with extinction, birds and Endangered species at the time (I was in my teens)...
But I think my actual decision to work in a museum was influenced by the mentors who actually trained me. I was in awe of these personal heroes, and wanted to be like them; most of them still walk among us, others have passed on, but what they have collectively provided me with is hardly forgotten. They include: Dean Amadon, Keith A. Arnold, Richard E. Bodmer, John F. Eisenberg, J. Knox Jones, Jr., Nancy Crocker-Mulligan, Duane A. Schlitter, Stuart D. Strahl, and Richard D. Strauss.
What is your favorite specimen, and why? Is it on exhibit?
The Okapi (Okapia johnstoni, HMNS VM 505) mount in the African Wildlife Hall is among my favorite of specimens in the museum for many reasons. First and foremost, they are rather rare in terms of animals on display. However, everything the Okapi represents, from exploration to history to conservation of rare species, is a fascinating story in itself:
At a time when most of Africa seemed more alien to explorers than distant planets are today, Dr. David Livingstone, a young Scot of humble means, marched into the heart of darkness, hoping to help Africa’s people. Livingstone’s writings lifted the shroud of mystery from Africa and invigorated the anti-slavery crusade. When Livingstone had not been heard from for several years, his absence had become a matter of international concern. It was then that the New York Herald dispatched their explorer-journalist Henry Stanley in 1869 to search for Livingstone. Stanley finally found Livingstone in November 1871 in a small southeast African town, and greeted Livingstone with the famous quote, which is still know today, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume”.
Part of Stanley’s journey took him through the deep, dark Congo Basin, where some historians believe he was the first explorer to witness the rare Okapi. Stanley was surprised by the Wambutti pygmies’ indifference to the animal, explaining they sometimes caught a similar animal in their traps.
Meanwhile, in England, rumors of the strange jungle beast reached the ears of Philip Lutley Sclater, Secretary of the Zoological Society of London at the time. In 1899, Sclater set out to search for the Okapi, as part of a Cecil Rhodes-British Government team led by Sir Harry H. Johnston. After talking to the local people, Sclater assumed the strange animal must be a forest-dwelling zebra. Johnston later provided Sclater with two pieces of Okapi skin bearing stripes, supporting the theory that the Okapi was a zebra, but he couldn’t explain the strange, two-toed tracks he found because zebras walk on just one toe. Sclater thought the tracks had been made by another animal, perhaps an antelope. The mystery was solved when an okapi skull was discovered - it was a type of forest giraffe.
Johnston was actually the first explorer to view a live Okapi, and it was named for him, Okapia johnstoni, although the animal was not viewed in a European Zoo until 1918. Nonetheless, the discovery of the Okapi in 1900 created such excitement to foreign scientists that the American Museum of Natural History sent Herbert Lang and James Chapin to explore the region from 1909 – 1915, with subsequent expeditions following...
What are your favorite museums?
Besides the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Natural History Museum in London and the American Museum of Natural History are my two faves.
Education - Academic background
Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fish. Science, Texas A&M University (12/98) – Magna Cum Laude
Dissertation title: “Competition and coexistence in Neotropical birds: a latitudinal comparison” - Keith Arnold, Dissertation Chair
M.Sc. in Biology, Texas Tech University (5/93) - Sigma-Xi
Thesis title: "Distribution, habitat association, and factors determining assemblage composition of mammals in the Paraguayan Chaco" - Richard Strauss, Thesis Chair
B.S. in Zoology, State Univ. of New York at Oswego (5/89) - OCSA Honors
Credentials / honors
2003 Committee Member, Assoc. of Field Ornithologists Bergstrom Award
2001-current Coordinator, AFO/AOU Editorial Assistance Program
2000-current Chair, Cracid Specialist Group
1998-current Board member, World Pheasant Association Conservation Policy and
Planning Committee
Current research projects / interests:
My research interests cover a number of topics and taxa. I am particularly interested in community ecology, natural history and conservation of Neotropical birds and mammals in lowland regions east of the South American Andes, especially the Peruvian Amazon, Paraguayan Chaco, and eastern Bolivian panhandle. Specific activities I’m currently involved in include, but are not limited to:
· Natural History and Ecology of Vertebrates in Sub-saharan Africa.
· Natural History of Texas Vertebrates.
· Community ecology of doves in residential areas of southeastern Texas.
· Sigmodon hispidus as a vector of Venezuelan Encephalitic Virus.
· Evolution and speciation in select taxa of nocturnal birds: owls and potoos.
· Distributional patterns in MesoAmerican endemic birds.
· Macroecology and conservation of Neotropical gamebirds.
· Allocation of resources and hunting patterns of Guatemalan lowland gamebirds.
· Ecology and Hunting Patterns of Tinamous in Patagonia.
· Mammalian biogeography and biodiversity in the eastern panhandle of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and description of new species of Oryzomys and Micronycteri.
· Size assortment in an Amazonian Felid community.
· Studies in western the Amazonian basin: patterns and processes of avian community structure; primate phylogeography and community dynamics; return rates of game species subsequent to overhunting.
Students
Theses / Dissertations
- 2004-cur: Nico Dauphiné (Univ. Georgia, Athens, GA)
Bird Conservation in the Cordillera de Colán, Northern Peru
- 2003-cur: Lark Coffey (Univ. Texas Medical Branch - Galveston)
The Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus) as a vector of Venezuelan Encephalitic Virus.
- 2002-cur: Carlos Delgado (Univ. Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia)
The small mammal community of Antioquia region.
- 2001-cur: Jeffrey Thompson (Univ. Georgia, Athens, GA)
Ecology and harvest patterns of Tinamou in the Argentine Pampas.
- 2000-cur: Erick Baur (Univ. Florida, Gainesville, FL)
Resource use by sympatric Galliforme species and the impacts of human disturbance in a lowland tropical forest.
- 2000-cur: Jose Manual Rojas (Univ. Gabriel Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia)
The small mammal community of Bolivia’s Chiquitano Valley, with analysis of biogeographic relationships.
- 1998-99: Ana Mamani-F. (Univ. Gabriel Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia)
Natural history, population density and hunting patterns of Chaco Chachalacas (Ortalis canicollis) in Izozog, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Directed Studies in Biology
- 2003: Heather Daniel (League City ISD)
Community ecology of doves in residential areas of the upper Texas coast.
- 2001-02: Bethaney Foshee (Texas A&M Univ., Dept. Wildlife & Fish. Science)
Visitor experiences and attitudes towards the Frensley Hall of Serengeti Wildlife at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
- 2000: Daniella Muallem (Rice University)
Effects of channelization upon abundance and diversity of water dependent birds in Houston Bayous.
- 1996: Claudia Garcia (University of Houston - Downtown)
A phylogenetic assessment of Crax (Aves, Cracidae) using behavioral and ecological characters. Publications
Brooks, D.M. 1998. Habitat variability as a predictor of rarity in Neotropical mammals. Vida Silv. Neotrop. 7: 115-120.
Brooks, D.M. 2001. Calls of Texas Birds. Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 1, Houston, TX.
Brooks, D.M. and A.J. Begazo. 2001. Macaw density variation in the western Amazonian basin. Pp. 427-438 In: Avian Ecology and Conservation in an Urbanizing World (J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman and R. Donnelly, Eds.). Kluwer Acad. Publ., Mass.
Brooks, D.M. 2002. Bird Calls of East Africa. Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 3, Houston, TX.
Brooks, D.M. 2004. Bird Calls of Southern Africa. Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 4, Houston, TX.
Brooks, D.M., L. Pando-V., A. Ocmin-P., and J. Tejada-R. 2004. Resource separation in a Napo-Amazonian tinamou community. Orn. Neotrop.
Sarkozi, D.L. and D.M. Brooks. 2003. Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) impaled by a Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus). S.W. Nat. 48: 301-303.
Suggested websites for more information/research
African Watering Hole Cam –
American Society of Mammalogists -
The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation -
Birdlife International -
Birds of the Upper Texas Coast -
Cracid Specialist Group -
IUCN Species Survival Commission -
Ornithological Societies of North America -
Society of Conservation Biology – conbio.net
Suggest Reading Recommendations
Behavioral Ecology (Krebs and Davies)
Biogeography (Brown)
Biology and Conservation of Cracids in the New Millenium (Brooks and Gonzalez)
Birds of Africa (Urban, Fry and Keith)
Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania (Zimmerman et al.)
Bird Life of Texas (Oberholser)
Colored Key to the Wildfowl of the World (Scott)
Cracidae: their Biology and Conservation (Strahl et al.)
Ecology (Begon, Harper and Townsend)
Endemic Bird Areas of the World (Stattersfield et al.)
Finches and Sparrows (Clement et al.)
Guide to the Birds of Colombia (Hilty and Brown)
Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America (Howell and Webb)
Island Africa (Kingdon)
Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Kingdon)
Mammalian Radiations (Eisenberg)
Mammals of the Neotropics (Eisenberg)
Mammals of North America (Hall)
Mammals of Texas (Davis)
Manual of Neotropical Birds (Blake)
National Geographic Society Field Guide to African Wildlife (Alden et al.)
Neotropical Companion (Kricher)
Neotropical Rainforest Mammals (Emmons and Feer)
Neotropical Wildlife Use and Conservation (Redford and Robinson)
Principles of Systematic Zoology (Mayr)
SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Sinclair et al.)
Tapirs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (Brooks and Bodmer)
Threatened Birds of the World (Birdlife)
Walker’s Mammals of the World (Nowak)
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