Amphibian & Reptile

Well I think they look lovely! One Gecko picked up in a local shop, one frog on loan from Project Seahorse at UBC and 3 American Alligator teeth casings from our friend out in the UBC Zoology department.  Thank you so much!

I think the kids will absolutely love these specimens.

As you can see - they are behind plexi-glass to protect them from bugs and critters but, in a hinged frame for the kids to access.

Looking to find more cool things but we will see...

Monarch Butterfly

Welcome to our newest member of the entomology collection!

It is a wonderful male specimen. Picked up completely lifeless in the dirt at the Aquarium last week.

Cruz had a lovely experience with a blue butterfly landing on his shirt and staying with him for a photo before fluttering away. We loved it!

Also, picked up another hinged frame for the amphibians and reptiles. Need to replace the glass.

 I would not want them damaged by bugs or scavengers. The frog is on loan from Project Seahorse at UBC and needs to be returned in June so, we better take good care of it. :D

Frames

This weekend most of the filling, sanding and painting for the bug frame was completed. Still have one coat of paint left and then  reassembly of the frame hinges and plexi cover. Created all the labels for the bugs too. Just have to put it all together now.  :D

Picked up some outdoor bug collecting gear for the boys. Bug cages, tweezers, magnifying glasses and nets. Should be fun!

Project Seahorse...

Many thanks to Project Seahorse at UBC. Advancing marine conservation is a difficult, honorable  and ambitious objective. I had the pleasure of meeting 2 wonderful women from the team this morning and came home with some wonderful specimens and learning resources. I can hardly wait to present the school with these valuable learning tools and fragile specimens. I now have 5 different species!

Thank you again. :D

The frog, tonic and tablet loans will be returned in June :D

I was also temporarily loaned 2 varieties of coral from Australia and some really colourful sea shells. Thank you to the Parker family of Quilchena.

　

New Surprise Donations!

What a wonderful surprise.

Today we had a family from Quilchena donate some fossils including 2 Gastopods, 2 surf clams, 1 Turritella, 1 Crinoid Fragment & 3 shark teeth. They are actually the first for the collection.

Thank you Darcy & Family.

We also had another surprise in our mail box. One of our neighbours and Architect Bob, has graciously donated some cone shells from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Thank you so much Bob.

I spent the morning while the boys were at school taking apart a display to deepen it for the insect pins. Mitre saws are so difficult! Also cut more plexi glass and the end of the day should be filling these 2 displays. :D

The not so fun work...

Well Saturday, I spent the day shopping for cases to protect the protein based specimens. Several with glass need to be changed to plexi-glass to protect kids. Several have solid wood fronts which need to be removed and have plexi cut and glued to create a visible hinged box. They all need cork lining too.
Lots of work.
I also had to move the displays, plexi glass, wood and cork to the craft room in the basement so that I can do cutting and the really messy work in the basement.
Today, Sunday was spent writing and researching the new specimens and then printing.

Specimens from Chinatown

Well, today I visited as store in Chinatown. I found some really cool specimens for the kids. The specimens are all used in traditional medicine dating back thousands of years.

Specimens - Sea butterfly, seahorse, cuttle fish bone, octopus, gecko, Rashi and white fungus, and 3 varieties of seaweed - black, green and purple in color. 

Now the fun part of correct labeling & display. 

I also have to make sure the teachers and kids have the ability to pick them up while making it impossible for little bug creatures to feast on them. Hummm should be interesting.

While in the shop I asked the young shop keeper about shark products. I was VERY pleased to hear that shark fins and other products are in much lower demand as North American's become educated about the inhumane harvesting and over fishing of these creatures.

So - education works!

Seahorses!

I am thrilled to say that we are going to receive some very exciting donations for our Ocean & Marine collection. Thank you to some very generous researchers out at UBC. We will have some conservation posters for our bulletin boards, CD’s for teacher resources and some physical specimens. The wonderful thing about Seahorses is that children see them as mystical creatures- similar to mermaids and unicorns. I really want the children to understand how fragile they are and that their existence is reliant on our conservation and respect of our oceans.

They will definitely add a WOW factor to our collection. I will be picking them up next week. :D

How exciting!

Emu Eggs

The boys and I had a wonderful tour and visit with Arthur a Zoologist at UBC yesterday. 

I pulled the kids from school for a once in a lifetime opportunity to pick up specimens for our biodiversity project. The kids had the honour of feeding endangered Green Sea Turtles and viewing American Alligators and Caymens. What a day! When we left we were given several Emu eggs for our science centre and alligator teeth. WOW.

We had fun drilling and blowing the eggs that evening. Who knew that Emu eggs were GREEN? 

The kids will love them!