Is it real? Penn State's Nittany Lion hide sampled for DNA sequencing – PennLive.com

The Penn State Nittany Lion's proper branch on the mountain lion family tree is being sought by a team led by a Penn State honors students.
Schreyer Honors College junior Maya Evanitsky, assistant professor of anthropology and biology George Perry and a team of undergraduate students plan to sequence DNA from a sample of preserved hide from the taxidermy-mounted Nittany Lion.
While most fans identify the costumed two-legged mascot at the Nittany Lion, the original was an eastern mountain lion killed by farmer Samuel Brush in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1856.
The taxidermy mount of that animal has been on display in the Penn State All-Sports Museum at Beaver Stadium since 2011, when it was moved there from Pattee Library's front entrance, where it had stood since 1996. .
The glass case around the mount was opened recently, for the first time, to allow Evanitsky to cut a two-inch sample from the inside of one hind leg of the Nittany Lion.
She said the animal's coat had "a very tough, hid-like quality to it. It was like trying to cut carpet."
And, there was the fact that she was working on THE Nittany Lion.
"I was very nervous about doing any damage," recalled Evanitsky. "I was very aware of the value of the specimen, how much it means to Penn State, as well as the scientific value of it."
She said the team is hoping the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences Genomics Core Laboratory, which previously uncovered the genome for woolly mammoths, Neanderthals and other extinct species, will be able to extract DNA from the sample.
Evanitsky explained, "The ultimate goal is to sequence the DNA and compare that to DNA sequences in genes of populations of current mountain lions" in California and Florida. We're hoping to compare how diverse the species has become and how much they've differentiated over time."
She's also requested samples from two other taxidermy mounts of eastern mountain lions, which are believed to have gone extinct in Pennsylvania in 1874: one in the Ecology Lab in Science Hall at Albright College in Reading and one at the Lycoming County Historical Society and Taber Museum in Williamsport.
Using the advanced technology available in the lab at University Park, the biochemistry and molecular biology major from and her team will compare the DNA from the eastern samples with various other ancient lion samples including mountain lions that currently live in the western U.S. and Florida.
Evanitsky hopes to have all samples sequenced by fall 2015 and then to spend the fall semester writing her thesis on her findings.
To pay for the $12,000 project, Evanitsky launched a crowdfunding campaign with a deadline of May 6 to gather tax-deductible donations at USEED@PennState.

Mountain lions were once widespread across North America, but their range shrunk dramatically as they were pursued through unregulated hunting and by farmers aiming to protect their livestock, and moved off the landscape by habitat fragmentation.
According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s, and the northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s.
However, many people believe some naturally occurring mountain lions still live in remote spots of Pennsylvania and some believe they have encountered the animals in recent years, although no physical evidence has surfaced to confirm those reports.
The Nittany Lion mount is very well-traveled, having been displayed for a few years in Old Main at University Park before heading to the world's fairs in Chicago in 1983 and St. Louis in 1904, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. It then spent nearly 40 years in the basement of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
In 1992, Penn State Professor of Wildlife Conservation Richard Yahner heard about the lion in storage at the Carnegie Museum and arranged to have it brought back to central Pennsylvania. Lack of proper care had left the specimen in such poor shape that it required careful restoration by a skilled conservator.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025).
© 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices

source