I was going to right about the newest exhibition at Melbourne Museum, Wild, but found out there aren't any threads so I'll write a little tour.
For starters the museum is pretty new and is a really modern building which really contrasts with the Exhibition Building next door. The entrance is really open plan and if you go up through the resturant you can get in for free (I'm a student so can get in for free anyway) and leads straight onto a beautiful temperate rainforest that winds in and out of caves, through rivers and up to a forest that has suffered from bushfires. It isn't packed with animals but is so natural that it makes up for it. I saw some frogs, snakes, stick-insects (all of which were in seperate exhibits and not free ranging) red-browed finch, perch and some sort of cat-fish. On past visits I've seen tawny frogmouth, satin bowerbird, double-barred finch and turtles but it is really easy for the animals to hide so they could still be in there.
After this I made my way straight to Wild because that was the whole reason for my visit. I most definatly wasn't dissapointed even though it is just a display of stuffed animals but I would say about 85% I've never seen so it was nice to get an idea of how big or small they really are. There's only so much you can gain from photos and books. There is also a display of native species that are being affected by climate change such as the mallee fowl and mountain pygmy possum. Stand outs to me were okapi, giant otter, sloth bear, resplendant quetzal, thylacine, aardvark, two types of pangolin and mountain goat.
As I came back out of Wild I had a look at the three exhibits I walked through really quickly on my way there. Bugs alive is a world class bug exhibition and is my favorite exhibition at the museum. There are living ant nests (tent building ants (I don't even know if that's what they're called), bull ants and just your run-of-the-mill ants), An open-fronted orb weaver spider exhibit, a diving beetle tank, tarantulas and an enormous collection of mounted insects from around the world. Next to this is a dinosaur exhibition showing some skeletons and lots of games and interactive stuff to get people interested in "just some old bones" I heard one woman tell her kids. And then on the other side of this is an ocean exhibition which suprisingly and dissappointingly has very few live exhibits. Admittedly it is in a small area so most of the information is shown in videos.
I haven't been into the childrens gallery since I was about 8 so I can't honestly tell you what's in it nowadays. So next I went up to the Australian section which consists of Bunjilaka the Aboriginal cultural centre, The Melbourne Gallery and Pacifika Gallery. In Bunjilaka is a huge and interpretive collection of aboriginal artifacts and really showcases the diversity of the oldest culture on Earth. The Pacifika Gallery is quite small and has artifacts such as weapons, boats and tools from various Pacific Islands. And the Melbourne Gallery showcases the history of Melbourne, including Phar Lap's stuffed body (his skeleton and heart are at other collections but Melbourne wants to bring them back for next years racing carnival), a display of the set of Neighbours and many other quintessential Melbournian things.
It's only now that I'm looking at the map that I've realised I missed the whole mind and body gallery which is split into two halves; The Mind and The Body. I really like this area of the museum and it was a great help in year 11 psychology.
There are a few small displays that aren't part of any bigger display such as a blue whale skeleton and Sam the Koala.
For starters the museum is pretty new and is a really modern building which really contrasts with the Exhibition Building next door. The entrance is really open plan and if you go up through the resturant you can get in for free (I'm a student so can get in for free anyway) and leads straight onto a beautiful temperate rainforest that winds in and out of caves, through rivers and up to a forest that has suffered from bushfires. It isn't packed with animals but is so natural that it makes up for it. I saw some frogs, snakes, stick-insects (all of which were in seperate exhibits and not free ranging) red-browed finch, perch and some sort of cat-fish. On past visits I've seen tawny frogmouth, satin bowerbird, double-barred finch and turtles but it is really easy for the animals to hide so they could still be in there.
After this I made my way straight to Wild because that was the whole reason for my visit. I most definatly wasn't dissapointed even though it is just a display of stuffed animals but I would say about 85% I've never seen so it was nice to get an idea of how big or small they really are. There's only so much you can gain from photos and books. There is also a display of native species that are being affected by climate change such as the mallee fowl and mountain pygmy possum. Stand outs to me were okapi, giant otter, sloth bear, resplendant quetzal, thylacine, aardvark, two types of pangolin and mountain goat.
As I came back out of Wild I had a look at the three exhibits I walked through really quickly on my way there. Bugs alive is a world class bug exhibition and is my favorite exhibition at the museum. There are living ant nests (tent building ants (I don't even know if that's what they're called), bull ants and just your run-of-the-mill ants), An open-fronted orb weaver spider exhibit, a diving beetle tank, tarantulas and an enormous collection of mounted insects from around the world. Next to this is a dinosaur exhibition showing some skeletons and lots of games and interactive stuff to get people interested in "just some old bones" I heard one woman tell her kids. And then on the other side of this is an ocean exhibition which suprisingly and dissappointingly has very few live exhibits. Admittedly it is in a small area so most of the information is shown in videos.
I haven't been into the childrens gallery since I was about 8 so I can't honestly tell you what's in it nowadays. So next I went up to the Australian section which consists of Bunjilaka the Aboriginal cultural centre, The Melbourne Gallery and Pacifika Gallery. In Bunjilaka is a huge and interpretive collection of aboriginal artifacts and really showcases the diversity of the oldest culture on Earth. The Pacifika Gallery is quite small and has artifacts such as weapons, boats and tools from various Pacific Islands. And the Melbourne Gallery showcases the history of Melbourne, including Phar Lap's stuffed body (his skeleton and heart are at other collections but Melbourne wants to bring them back for next years racing carnival), a display of the set of Neighbours and many other quintessential Melbournian things.
It's only now that I'm looking at the map that I've realised I missed the whole mind and body gallery which is split into two halves; The Mind and The Body. I really like this area of the museum and it was a great help in year 11 psychology.
There are a few small displays that aren't part of any bigger display such as a blue whale skeleton and Sam the Koala.
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