Happy New Year from the Marion Natural History Museum! In the next month or so we will be offering the following programs. Please check out our website for more information: www.marionmuseum.org. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday After-school Programs
February 4: Animal homes. Students will learn a little about how animals in our area survive the winter. We will be building examples of homes – caves, dens, nests, etc. – for museum display. Warning: There will be dirt, rocks, glue, etc. involved, so please dress your child accordingly.
February 25: Twigs and Buds. Let’s see if we can identify some of our trees without their leaves. Students will learn some very introductory botany and what to look for when our deciduous trees lose their leaves. Weather permitting, we will take a walking field trip to Holmes Brook area to collect specimens.
After-school programs will be held at the Marion Natural History Museum, 8 Spring Street Marion, MA. Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm. Cost is $4 for members, $6 for nonmembers.
Adult and Family Programs
Saturday January 31, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Tracking with the Marion Natural History Museum
We will meet at Washburn Park to do some tracking and search for other evidence of wild animals with naturalist and experienced tracker, Jennifer Carlino. Jennifer has volunteered with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Department for many years and has trained with the likes of biologist Scott Jackson. Please remember to dress warmly. You may want to bring a pair of binoculars or a camera to document your findings. Cost for the program is $6/person donation to the museum.
Friday, February 6, 7:00 – 8:30 pm: “The Right Whale Sedation Story” with Dr. Michael Moore
Woods Hole Marine Biologist Michael Moore will present his new strategy for sedating right whales to enable disentangling. Mr. Moore has devoted much of his career to understanding the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which are too often the victims of human activities. Since coming to WHOI as a graduate student in 1986, Moore has investigated why populations of North Atlantic right whales have not rebounded as they could have in the eight decades since whaling was outlawed, while their South Atlantic cousins have. Moore and colleagues at the New England Aquarium and elsewhere, as part of the Right Whale Consortium, have come to recognize that the species lives mostly in a highly “urbanized” ocean, where ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements are a constant concern.
As a result, Moore has studied various pharmacological and mechanical tools to help restrain or sedate large whales so that they can be cut loose from ropes and fishing gear. These efforts include the development of methods of injecting large whales with sedatives or antibiotics. Moore and colleagues Becky Woodward and Jeremy Winn have also modeled the interactions between fixed fishing gear and large whale body parts and conducted engineering tests to determine how rope interacts with whale baleen.
This program promises to be an interesting one, and preregistration is recommended. Please preregister at the museum’s website: www.marionmuseum.org. Cost: $6 donation to Marion Natural History Museum.