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Learn about how Native Americans used dolls as toys and teaching tools at the American Indian Museum Tuesday. Image courtesy of Wikicommons

Tuesday, June 18: Get Hands-On with Native American Dolls

Step aside, Raggedy Ann. An exhibit at the American Indian Museum is showcasing 23 colorful and detailed dolls representing the Plains and Plateau tribes and made by Native American artists. Come to the museum’s interactive cart and learn about how these dolls were traditionally used as toys and teaching tools. Free. 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. American Indian Museum.

Wednesday, June 19: Lemur Feeding

Feeling hungry? Come warm up your appetite at the lemur feeding at the National Zoo. Lemurs enjoy primarily a light diet of leaves and fruits, which are easily attainable for this tree-living species. Following this event are feeding demonstrations for the zoo’s Amazon fish, giant Pacific octopus, sea lions, black-crowned night herons, stingrays and crustaceans. Each feeding lasts approximate 15 to 20 minutes. Free. 10:30 a.m. for the lemur feeding. National Zoo.

Thursday, June 20: “Cujo”

Dog lovers, beware. The film adaptation of Stephen King’s K-9 horror novel Cujo, which will be shown at the Hirshhorn Thursday, is enough to make anyone think twice about buying that adorable puppy, or at least letting him run outside at the risk of catching rabies. The film will be shown as part of this year’s “Summer Camp: Pup Tense” film series, the theme of which is, you guessed it, canine horrors. Free. 8 p.m. Hirshhorn Museum Ring Auditorium.

Also, check out our Visitors Guide App. Get the most out of your trip to Washington, D.C. and the National Mall with this selection of custom-built tours, based on your available time and passions. From the editors of Smithsonian magazine, the app is packed with handy navigational tools, maps, museum floor plans and museum information including ‘Greatest Hits’ for each Smithsonian museum.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

An octopus design on a mosaic at Planetario Alfa museum in Mexico. The mural, made out of 60,000 bottle caps, is part of “Green Revolution,” a traveling exhibit that teaches creative ways to reduce waste and conserve energy. Photo courtesy of SITES.

“Green Revolution” is a traveling exhibit that practices what it preaches. Since April 2011, it has made its way around America educating visitors about eco-friendly ways of living, and it has done so without gas-guzzling trucks or plastic-filled crates.

Normally, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the organization that designs and distributes the Institution’s on-the-go exhibits, ships full-scale exhibition packages to the exhibits’ host museums. These packages include objects, photographs, interpretive texts, displays and computer and audiovisual equipment. Since SITES launched in 1951, it has distributed more than 1,500 shows across the country and abroad.

With “Green Revolution,” however, SITES only provides the blueprints. “The host museums download files and then build it themselves, so we don’t ship anything to them,” explains Lindsey Koren, a SITES spokesperson. Because host museums must find their own materials, they are challenged to be environmentally creative with their designs, and to involve their local communities in the construction process.

At Planetario Alfa, an upcoming host museum in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, the staff recently held a bottle cap collection to build a mural for their version of the exhibit. Visitors brought in different colored caps—over 60,000—which school groups and other local volunteers then used to create a massive 8-by-79-foot mosaic (above). Its ocean theme celebrates 2013 as the United Nations-designated International Year of Water. According to a post about the mural on SITES’s blog, the project has inspired other Mexican institutions to build similar murals with their own designs.

Recycled materials make up the majority of items in “Green Revolution,” which vary from static displays to interactive stations. Divided into segments like “energy,” “recycling” and “composting,” the exhibit uses live worm compost bins, miniature wind turbines, bicycle-powered electronics and biography panels of local recycling heroes to demonstrate how small changes to our everyday lives can impact carbon footprints. Because of the exhibit’s high customizability, no version is the same. “It looks different everywhere it goes,” Koren says.

So far, the exhibit has been featured at museums in Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, New Hampshire and, new this month, Arizona. The Mexican exhibit, which opens in March, was the first to translate all of SITES digital files into Spanish. The advantage of a digital “eco-zhibit,” Koren says, is that it can be open simultaneously at any museums that want it, with flexible opening and closing dates.

Is “Green Revolution” the future of traveling museum exhibits? “I think that it could be a model of future digital exhibits,” says Devra Wexler, SITES project director. “I would not say that it’s a model for [all] future travel exhibits, because when you have objects to send, you’re going to send objects. But If you’re doing an exhibition that doesn’t require objects, that can be tailored and customized for a local audience, then using something digital to get everything there is a good way to go, especially if you’re trying to teach environmental responsibility.

“It’s a great way to get information to museums if they’re willing to put in a lot of effort,” she adds.

The National Zoo's newest addition, a baby howler monkey. Image courtesy of Janice Sveda/the National Zoo.

Friday, June 22 Choctaw Days

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma celebrates its tribal history and heritage with four days of food, workshops and performances. The event will honor the tribe’s rich military tradition, including a discussion of a competition called “Little Brother of War,” which was a lacrosse-like game that was played to settle disputes before declaring war. Other activities include Native dance and singing performances, storytelling programs and booths showcasing bead work, pottery, flutes, the Choctaw language and tribal cooking. Free. 10:30 a.m.  to 4:30 p.m through Saturday June 23. Part of the series Choctaw Days. National Museum of the American Indian.

Saturday, June 23 The Outlaw Josey Wales

While all of big summer Hollywood films are hitting theaters, there is nothing like watching the classics. This Saturday, as a part of the the Classic Film Festival Series at the American History Museum, come check out the screening of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976, directed by Clint Eastwood). The film takes place at the end of the Civil War when a group of union soldiers called the “Red Legs” is terrorizing Missouri farmers, killing, pillaging and plundering homesteads. One farmer, Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood), joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and takes revenge on the Union soldiers who murdered his family. Get there at 1:00 p.m. for a pre-screening discussion with NPR film commentator Murray Horwitz, who will  highlight historical things to look for in this classic Hollywood movie. The screening begins at 2:00 p.m. Warner Brothers Theater, American History Museum.

Sunday, June 24 What do Zoo Animals Eat?

Need a place to take the kids this Sunday? The hot weather should break soon and so we recommend the National Zoo where they can see all of their favorite animals—especially the new baby howler monkey. Find out what time the animals get to eat at the Zoo’s daily calendar and be there to watch. Animal feedings take place every day, beginning at 10:00 a.m. with the fish feedings at the Kids’ Farm. Watch up to six feedings a day, including the giant Pacific octopus at the Invertebrate House at 11:00 a.m. and 3p.m. and the small mammals at their house at 1:30 p.m. Don’t be late; the feedings last only 15 to 20 minutes. Free. National Zoo.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

Come see animals like this porcupine at mealtime. Photo courtesy National Zoo

Monday, August 29 Zoo Cuisine

What do zoo animals eat? Find out at the daily feedings beginning at 10:15 with the fish feedings at the Kids’ Farm. You can see up to seven feedings a day, including the giant Pacific octopus at the Invertebrate House at 11:15 and 3; the sloth bears at 11:30 on the Asia Trail, and the small mammals at their house at 1:45. Don’t be late; the feedings last only 15 to 20 minutes. Free. National Zoo

Tuesday, August 30 “For All the World to See”

Members of the Civil Rights movement made heavy use of visual imagery in spreading awareness of their cause, from television to movies, magazines, newspapers, and posters. Experience the “For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights,” exhibition with a firsthand docent-guided tour to get a fuller understanding of this critical period through this fascinating lens. Free. 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. African American History and Culture Museum.

Wednesday, August 31 Let’s Eat!

The Museum of the American Indian is home to one of the most unique restaurants in D.C.: Mitsitam Cafe, a renowned eatery that provides visitors the chance to sample traditional Native cuisines from five different regions of the Americas. Come meet Mitsitam’s executive chef Richard Hetzler as he discusses and signs copies of The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook. Free. Noon to 1 p.m. National Portrait Gallery

Thursday, September 1 Apache 8

Watch the remarkable documentary Apache 8, a thrilling account of the all-women firefighter crew from the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The group has fought fires in the Southwestern United States for decades, and the acclaimed film captures both the professional feats and personal challenges these women encounter on a daily basis. Free. 12:30 and 3:30, daily in September except Wednesdays. National Museum of the American Indian

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Online Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

In September 2005, members of the VISIONS 05 expedition crew were studying the volcanic activity of the Juan de Fuca Ridge 200 miles off of the Oregon coast when they came across a white deep-sea octopus, Grimpoteuthis bathynectes, at a depth of 6,600 feet. They captured high-definition video footage of the octopus—one of the first high-definition videos of this species—which, complemented by beautiful music, makes for a spectacular video. The video made a debut appearance recently on the Smithsonian Ocean Portal. At the end of the video, the text states that “little is known about the deep-sea octopods,” so the ATM blog team got a little curious and sought out zoologist Michael Vecchione, director of the NMFS National Systematics Laboratory and renowned cephalopod expert, who helped to shed some light on this mysterious deep-sea creature. Here is what we’ve learned:

1.  Taxonomy: Dumbo octopuses are a group of deep-sea octopods. Vecchione estimates there are a few dozen species.

2. Appearance: They are different from the octopuses that most people recognize. Dumbos have fins on the sides of their bodies. Instead of jetting around and squirting water out of their funnels, they swim by flapping the fins and sometimes by pulsing their arms, which are webbed. They also have two little finger-like projections on their arms, in between the two suckers, called cirri. While scientists aren’t sure how the projections are used (for instance, whether or not they are sensory), they do know that they are associated with eating.

3. Behavior: Some Dumbo octopuses spend most of their time swimming around and others spend more time on the bottom of the ocean floor, flattened out. The one in the video does both. Dumbo octopuses are some of the largest invertebrates of the really deep sea.

4 . Location: They are usually found anywhere from 1,000 meters to about 5,00o meters below the surface. “People don’t normally explore those kinds of depths, so we don’t know a whole lot about what lives down there,” Vecchione says. While this octopus was found in an area with hydrothermal vent fields, there is no evidence that the animals are restricted to those kinds of areas.

5.  The name: Submarine pilots gave the octopuses their nickname because their fins resemble the ears of the cartoon character “Dumbo, the Flying Elephant.”

Vecchione has seen many videos of Dumbo octopuses, including this one shortly after it was recorded. The quality of the video is what makes it stand out, he says. “It was nice video,” he says, “it was nothing Earth-shattering, but it’s a very nice video of a Grimpoteuthis.”

Nothing special for a octopus-man, but we thought it was pretty cool. Take a look.