Treffer: Python Web Scraping and Data Analysis: Gorilla Specimens from Chicago’s Field Museum

An in-depth analysis of millions of data entries from Chicago’s Field Museum underwent implementation, furnishing insights related to 25 Gorilla specimens and spanning the realms of biogeography, zoology, primatology, and biological anthropology. Taxonomically, and at first glance, all specimens examined belong to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Primates, and family Hominidae. Furthermore, these specimens can be further categorized under the genus Gorilla and species gorilla, with most belonging to the subspecies Gorilla gorilla gorilla and some specimens being categorized as Gorilla gorilla. Biologically, specimens’ sex distribution entails 16 specimens (or 64% of the total) being identified as male and 5 (or 20%) identified as female, with 4 (or 16%) specimens having their sex unassigned. Furthermore, collectors, none of whom are unidentified by name, culled most of these specimens from unidentified zoos, with a few specimens having been sourced from Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, a well-known natural science materials supplier to North American museums. In terms of historicity, the specimens underwent collection between 1975 and 1993, with some entries lacking this information. Additionally, multiple organ preparations have been performed on the specimens, encompassing skulls, skeletons, skins, and endocrine organs being mounted and alcohol-preserved. Disappointingly, despite the existence of these preparations, tissue samples and coordinates are largely unavailable for the 25 specimens on record, limiting further research or analysis. In fact, tissue sampling is available for a sole specimen identified by IRN 2661980. Only one specimen, identifiable as IRN 2514759, has a specified geographical location indicated as “Africa, West Africa, West Indies,” while the rest have either “Unknown/None, Zoo” locations, signaling that no entry is available. Python code to extract data from the Field Museum’s zoological collections records and online database include the contents of the ...