View in browser  

Springtime glory

Despite the pandemic's roller coaster ride for humankind, nature pushes steadily onwards, gifting us with sprouting greenery and delicate floral beauty.

We miss our visitors, and look forward to welcoming you all back. For now, the museum is temporarily closed in accordance with Government of Ontario directives. 

We continue to post regular content on our social media channels. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Discover more on nature.ca. 

Highlights

Nature Ideas – free public talk!
Climate change and mammal extinction in the Age of Humans
April 21, 7 pm ET

Animal populations are declining and many species are at risk of extinction. How do rates of extinction compare between today and in the past? Are humans responsible? Discover human impacts on climate and biodiversity in the past and present with palaeobiologists Advait Jukar, Ph. D., and Danielle Fraser, Ph. D. This public talk is organized by the museum's Beaty Centre for Species Discovery in partnership with Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants. 

Information and registration

National Volunteer Week
Thank you to our volunteers

Our volunteers are sorely missed during the pandemic. Some of our botany volunteers still contribute from home, working on digital projects. Others, such as Alison (seen in this photo) accept official, registered loans of pressed research samples, transforming them into prepared scientific specimens ready for nature research and education. We can’t thank all our volunteers enough, and are looking forward to working together again, as soon as it’s safe to do so.

More resources for teachers
Virtual school trips to museum galleries

Thanks to a partnership with GHM Academy, teachers anywhere can take their students on a virtual trip to four of the museum's galleries, with integrated 360-degree technology and links to our blogs, videos and Natural History Notebooks, all in one convenient place.

Learn more

Scientific discoveries
Ice-age gray wolves' dietary shift

A new scientific study suggests that gray wolves may have survived the extinction at the end of the Pleistocene epoch 11,000 years ago by switching their diet from ice-age horses and adapting over time to feed on caribou and moose today. The research was led by Dr. Danielle Fraser and her student Zoe Landry. Artwork (detail): Julius Csotonyi. 

Learn more

Virtual Open House video series
Alligator ancestor

Meet Leidyosuchus canadensis, the Canadian ancestor of all alligators from around the world! Examine up close the Leidyosuchus holotype specimen that was collected in 1898 in Alberta, and learn more from palaeontologist Xiao-Chun Wu, Ph.D. 

Play video

Collections Corner

Out of this world!
Allende meteorite

The national meteorite collection is safeguarded at the museum's Natural Heritage Campus in Gatineau, Quebec. The above specimen is a piece of the Allende meteorite that fell in Mexico in 1969 and it has seen very little alteration since the birth of the solar system. Eleven new, previously undescribed minerals have been discovered in this one meteorite. Studying the composition of meteorites helps scientists understand the origin and composition of the rocky planets, including Earth. Learn more in this Virtual Open House video. 

Play video

QUICK LINKS

In case you missed it

Subscribe to the newsletter

Membership

Become a Donor

Editor: Laura Sutin
Questions or comments can be sent to lsutin@nature.ca

Photos:
"Glory in the snow" flowers: pixaybay.com
Gray wolves palaeoart © Julius Csotonyi

Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature
P. O. Box 3443, Station D / PO Box 3443, Stn. D
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 6P4