You are browsing the Blog for Nature Archives - Page 14 of 29 - Marja-Leena Rathje.
by Marja-Leena 
by Marja-Leena Easter yellow
On our walk the other day past the boggy area of our favourite forest park, we found an exceptional group of Swamp Lanterns aka Western Skunk Cabbage. I think the latter name is an insult to the beauty of this plant and it does not smell skunky either. The flower reminds me of the Peace Lily – sure enough, they are both part of the large Arum family. And are not the peace lily and another arum, the calla not often used at Easter?
by Marja-Leena leaf traces
Magnolia buds are bursting forth on the trees
while traces of last fall’s leaves lie like skeletons
perchance to become future fossils
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 7
These images of fossils are just a sampling from the vast and rich Fossil Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. I have a peculiar fondness for these so I think they make a nice finishing touch to this photo series. Thanks for following it along with me!
If you missed the earlier posts, they are here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 6
Next in our walk through the Beaty came the sections with small animals and birds in their skins with fur or feathers that are laid down in rows upon rows on shelves inside glass-doored display cabinets. I found these quite disturbing to look at and skimmed past these while asking myself, why is it harder than looking at the trophy heads and the skulls? This collection of eggs are a delight though (sorry about the reflections).
Somewhat disturbing too are the many forms of fish life preserved in jars of alcohol, looking much like pickles. I love the abstract image of “windows” containing warmly backlit rows of preserving jars from small to huge. It was challenging to photograph closeups through the wired glass but then I didn’t want to look too closely anyway. Husband did capture this delightful seahorse, unpickled. I used to think that was an imaginary fairytale creature.
Then there is the wonderful Herbarium. Seeing all the lichens so soon after I’d done some posts on them was serendipitous but I’m quite disappointed that I was unable to capture photos of their amazing variety because of the reflections on the glass. Of course only a small selection in any of the collections are on display. There are numerous drawers, also glass covered, that one could pull out to examine the contents – a researcher’s dream and an awesome record of biodiversity, but just too too much to see in one visit!
Coming soon and the last in this longer-than-planned series are the fossils, always a favourite of mine.
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 5
More from Vancouver’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. This particular section of big cases of gorgeous animals such as the crocodile, the African buffalo in the middle, and, sorry I can’t read the label, another handsome African big curly-horned creature, made me think rather irreverently of big-game trophies. And of one of my favourite movies, “Out of Africa”.
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 4
Continuing to show off some of my favourite photos from our recent visit to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum here in Vancouver, BC. I think the first photo is of the skull of a walrus and third one a giraffe skull from Uganda.
Please check out the earlier and later posts, if you haven’t already:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 3
Moving along in the Beaty to look at the specimens in the glazed display cases, still in the Atrium and below the Blue Whale, I was immediately enthralled by the gorgeous skulls of many creatures. I’m sorry I don’t have the proper names for the specimens to give you here as I tended to be more attracted by their diversity and the beauty of their textures, shapes and colours in what I chose to photograph than to make this a scientific record. It was too time-consuming and complicated for me to make a textual record of every image.
In fact my husband said when he saw me eagerly pull out the camera again, “Now I’ll never get you out of here!” I think we were both reminded of our long ago visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta where I went so camera happy, especially over the fossils. That amazing place was the source of many photos (pre-digital), some of which ended up in my printworks.
Maybe some details from this Beaty experience will also become part of future work too while they sit in my image library waiting for that right moment of inspiration and connection. In the meantime, they have provided inspiration in continuing thoughts about biodiversity and loss, as well as great blogging material.
I might have taken far more images but was often frustrated by the challenges of too many reflections on the glass fronts or tops, especially in the areas away from the Atrium. However, in the top photo, I was intrigued by a happy reflection of the Blue Whale’s tail and the trees outside, so chose not to crop them out. More to come – are you getting bored yet?
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 2
Here are some closer detail shots of the massive Blue Whale at the Beaty that I could not resist sharing. Looking at the image of the bones in a human hand, isn’t it astonishing how similar they are to the bones of the whale flipper?
In case you missed it, please read the previous post in this short series about the Beaty Biodiversity Museum that so enthralled us on our first visit there. Don’t miss the informative and interesting slide shows and videos.
by Marja-Leena Beaty Biodiversity Museum – 1
One day last week, we made our first visit to Vancouver’s new Beaty Biodiversity Museum, located on the campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC). A teaching and research facility, the museum is now able to showcase UBC’s natural history collections, with more than two million specimens to the public for the first time.
Among the treasures are a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton suspended in the two-storey glass Atrium, the second-largest fish collection in the nation, and myriad fossils, shells, insects, fungi, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants from around British Columbia and the world.
The Blue Whale Exhibit is truly magnificent and stunning as the first thing one sees already from the outside and when walking into the atrium. I didn’t, for example, know that:
Blue whales are the biggest animals that have ever lived on earth–longer than the longest known dinosaur, and much more massive.
The Blue Whale story is awe-inspiring:
On the remote northwestern coast of PEI [Prince Edward Island, a small island province in eastern Canada] in 1987, a 26 m long mature female blue whale died and washed ashore near the town of Tignish. In hopes of preserving the whale’s skeleton for research or museum display, the PEI government and the Canadian Museum of Nature arranged for the skeleton to be dragged off the beach near Nail Pond, and buried. The remains of the whale were longer than two Vancouver trolley buses parked one behind the other, and weighed an estimated 80,000 kg. Her burial was a mammoth task.
Because of the difficulty of unearthing and displaying such a large animal, the whale skeleton remained under the red PEI dirt for two decades. In 2007, the Museum of Nature and the PEI government granted UBC permission to retrieve the whale, and bring it to BC to be displayed in the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
Moving the skeleton from the coast of PEI to the inside of the Museum’s glass atrium, 6000 km away, [was] a challenging project…
Blue whales are the largest animal ever to have lived on earth. They rarely strand on beaches, and very few skeletons have been recovered for research or display. Worldwide, only 20 are available to the public for viewing.
We learned much from the guide and the posted displays, such as the fact that the whale was killed by a passing ship, how they had to rebuild and put together the huge bones of the skeleton, and that they are on the Red List of Endangered Species. Fortunately the Beaty’s website has excellent videos on the project to learn more, so if you are interested, do check them out at the links. Enjoy!
Continued: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7.