With bizarre woodpecker-like primates, dwarf humans, and flightless birds over nine feet high, islands are havens for some of the most unusual living creatures on our planet. Why are islands such hotspots of biodiversity and how does evolution work within these isolated pockets of life? Islands: Evolving in Isolation is a new Harvard Museum of Natural History exhibition that unravels the mysteries of island biodiversity and evolution. Packed with examples from around the globe, the exhibition brings together an enormous array of plant and animal specimens, including lizards, giant pitcher plants, hissing cockroaches, Galápagos tortoises, New Guinea birds of paradise, Malagasy lemurs, a remarkable Komodo dragon from the Indonesian islands, and a rare fossil cast of Homo floresiensis, a relative of modern humans. An exhibition full of surprises, Islands: Evolving in Isolation will highlight some of the latest research and discoveries made by Harvard scientists.

See the related lecture Islands: Natural Laboratories of Evolution, Thursday April 23, 6:00 pm.