Precious stones

Iostrate stele photo source : ROM images

The next mini-museum event off-site will feature Rocks, Gems and Space. Children will be making pendant necklaces, jeweled paper crowns, and volcanoes, as well as using cylinder seals to create writing in clay.

This beautiful Greek woman is being shown with her worldly possessions. Her maid and her jewelry box filled with gems, silver and gold. Originally a necklace dangled from the outstretched fingers of her right hand and there was a jeweled earring in her left ear. However, grave robbers removed those pieces in antiquity.

sightings – Octochef

Octochef cake with sushi     photo source : Avalon Cakes

I have a particular fascination with sea life and follow several Twitter feeds that relate to all things maritime.Today this photo popped up @echinoblog

Take a look at the other creations from Avalon Cakes including this Under the Sea balancing act.                http://avaloncakes.com/gallery/sculpted-cakes

Under the Sea cake photo source : Avalon Cakes

 

Common birds in steep decline

chart from stateofthebirds.org

It’s a headline you hate to read. Many of the wonderful birds of my youthful days in the backyard and neighbourhood fields, are now in steep decline according to a recent State of the Birds 2014 report.

To me it is unbelievable that these birds may go the way of the Passenger Pigeon that has been extinct now for 100 years.

Museums have a central role in the stewardship of nature’s wonders and my museum’s Centre of Discovery for Biodiversity focuses on birds as well as other species in peril.

sightings – Glanochthon

The problem with blogging about a specimen before a proper identification sign has been installed, is that you might get your identification wrong.

Case in point is the Glanochthon, recently installed in a prominent central location in the museum. Sources in the Palaeontology Department confirm the identity as:

Glanochthon sp., Permian, Germany, purchased Tucson 2013 (the label copy has been supplied by curatorial but not yet installed)

Additional information from Wikipedia shows:

“Glanochthon is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Permian of Germany. Fossils have been found from the Meisenheim Formation in the Saar–Nahe Basin.” Wikipedia

 

Tiktaalik features photo source : http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/meetTik2.html

My original thinking was that the tetrapod was a cast of the famous Devonian missing link animal, Tiktaalik.

Tiktaalik roseae, better known as the “fishapod,” is a 375 million year old fossil fish which was discovered in the Canadian Arctic in 2004. Its discovery sheds light on a pivotal point in the history of life on Earth: when the very first fish ventured out onto land.

Various fishapods artist : Dave Sousa

In Late Devonianvertebrate speciation, descendants of pelagiclobe-finned fish – like Eusthenopteron – exhibited a sequence of adaptations:

• Panderichthys, suited to muddy shallows;
• Tiktaalik with limb-like fins that could take it onto land;
• Early tetrapods in weed-filled swamps, such as:
  • Acanthostega which had feet with eight digits,
  • Ichthyostega with limbs.

Descendants also included pelagic lobe-finned fish such as coelacanth species. In 2000 P. Ahlberg et al. described a transitional form from fish to tetrapod, the Livoniana. This creature dates 374 – 391 million years ago, a successor to Panderichthys. wikipedia

 

UPDATE : photo

Glanochthon – not Tiktaalik   photo source : Lorie Pierce

sightings – My babies are growing up

Since it opened 11 months ago, I have visited the new aquarium on 22 occasions. The cuttlefish and octopuses have been a main draw for me. Yesterday was an exceptional day. Finally the summer crowds have dwindled and the school groups are not yet showing up at the door. It was a peaceful experience. One could get near the tanks and spend time composing photographs. Plus staff were out feeding some animals and cleaning tanks in full scuba gear.

The smaller octopus was moving around its tank and new sea nettles were on display.

However, my heart went out to the baby cuttlefish whom I’ve seen grow up from eggs the size of a large (black) pearl. Now they are big enough and mobile enough to track them on video.

cuttlefish approx 8 months old photo source : Lorie Pierce

The new Atlantic sea nettles are a study in gracefulness…unless they get tangled up in another jelly’s tentacles.

Atlantic sea nettles photo source: Lorie Pierce

Unfortunately, I cannot show you the cuttlefish movies I took as the files are too large. Will work on how to resolve that issue as they are magical to see in motion.

#Remembering Martha

passenger pigeon exhibit photo source : Lorie Pierce

Exactly one hundred years ago today, the last known passenger pigeon died at the Cincinnati Zoo at the age of 29. Known as Martha, after the US first Lady Martha Washington,the passenger pigeon’s formal name is Ectopistes migratorius. The taxidermied specimen is now housed in the Smithsonian Museum.

The Royal Ontario Museum has opened an exhibit recognizing this sad anniversary, which is also expanded into a second case showing current birds who are in danger due to habitat loss and other threats.