Awe-inspiring
February 27 is International Polar Bear Day. Get up close to this iconic Lord of the Arctic in our Mammal Gallery and Canada Goose Arctic Gallery. With the reopening of the museum, now is the perfect time to reacquaint yourself with the dinosaurs, mammals, insects and other many wonders awaiting you in our exhibitions. We're excited to welcome back our visitors, with a safe experience being the top priority.
February is Black History Month. While the calendar month draws to a close, the conversation continues. We hope you've had the chance to discover the stories of Black Canadians past and present who are honoured for their contributions. We encourage you to keep an eye out on social media for notable occasions in the coming months, such as #BlackBotanistsWeek, #BlackBirdersWeek, and #BlackinMarineScience
Do continue to connect with us on our channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Discover more on nature.ca.
Love for the Arctic, its people and its plants
Cora L. Scott
Cora L. Scott (1930 – 2005) was a greatly respected and dedicated nurse who worked in Canada’s North. She was the first permanent nurse at Grise Fiord on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut in the late 1980s, but most of her career was spent in the Northwest Territories. She was also a talented amateur botanist and an exceptional artist. One of her favourite pastimes was collecting the local Arctic flora, preserving and documenting them, and creating watercolour renderings of these tiny flowers and plants. Some of her beautiful watercolours are featured in this issue's Collections Corner (scroll down).
Black in STEM
Meet two inspiring researchers
Learn about the interests and backgrounds of two Canadian biologists in these videos hosted by Jesse Hildebrand for "Conservation Stories Canada" on YouTube.
Peter Soroye, a Ph. D. student with the University of Ottawa is passionate about pollinators and photography (learn more at https://youtu.be/6LvbM2SnPkE). In 2020, Peter was recognized as one of the Five Black Conservationists Making Change in the World (https://bit.ly/3sfvSlT).
McGill University researcher Dr. Emily Choy is the recipient of the 2020 L’Oréal Canada For Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowship (https://bit.ly/2ZRRF74). In her Conservation Story video, she shares some of her adventures on Coats Island, Nunavut, studying Thick-billed Murres. Learn why these seabirds are "the penguins of the Arctic", and see why Emily had to take a rock-climbing course in order to conduct her research: https://youtu.be/sgdYrx_L5a0
Call for nominations
Nature Inspiration Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2021 Nature Inspiration Awards. Do you know a nature leader? Our national awards program celebrates individuals and organizations that, through their innovative projects, encourage Canadians to connect with, and show leadership in the preservation of, nature. New this year are categories for Community Action and Sustainable Business.
Research updates
Science Review: 385 publications!
The museum's natural history collections support research that advances knowledge related to evolution, species discovery, conservation, biodiversity, environmental health and more. Our most recent Science Review shows that 385 publications in scientific journals and books were aided by the studies of our collections – through projects led by our scientists, affiliated research associates and experts from about 40 countries. Read summaries of some of these projects, and delve deeper into the relevance of our collections.
Virtual Open House video series
Extinct mammals
We've got more great science to share from our Virtual Open House! Step back in time to meet two fascinating mammals—Brontothere and Creodont—that went extinct about 38 million years ago. The rhinoceros-looking, plant-eating Brontothere had big knobs on its skull rather than horns. (You can see the Brontothere skeleton as well as an amazing, life-like model in our Fossil Gallery!) The carnivorous Creodont was the size of a polar bear. Learn more from palaeomammalogist, Danielle Fraser, Ph.D.
Botanical beauty
Watercolours by Cora L. Scott
A talented artist with a passion for capturing the delicate beauty of Arctic plants, Cora L. Scott gifted her collection of watercolours and pressed flowers to the Canadian Museum of Nature. Her watercolours are part of the museum's Nature Art colleciton. On the left is Pinguicula vulgaris, Common Butterwort (also known as Bog Violet). On the right is Silene uralensis. Bladder Campion. Her artwork is a wonderful legacy from this Canadian nurse and naturalist of Jamaican origin who loved the far North, its flora and its people.
Editor: Laura Sutin
Questions or comments can be sent to lsutin@nature.ca
Photos:
Polar bear: Image by Margo Tanenbaum from Pixabay
