A.A. Mironenko and Andrey Atuchin
Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs. And before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods—Earth’s first truly substantial animals and the ancestors of modern squid.
With dozens of tentacles and formidable shells, they presided over an undersea empire for millions of years. Follow along on an epic adventure from the primordial ocean to the calamari on your dinner plate!
Danna Staaf is a marine biologist, author, and artist with a longstanding love of octopus and squid. Her book Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods was named one of the best science books of 2017 by NPR. She earned a PhD in biology at Stanford University, where she also created the popular science outreach program Squids4Kids. She lives in San Jose with her husband and an unruly collection of kids, cats, and plants–and sadly, at the moment, no squid. Find Danna on twitter @DannaStaaf and facebook.
Copies of Squid Empire are available in the museum’s gift shop, and Danna will be available to sign copies after the talk.