Ahoy there! Back to the usual format this week; whose stern have we caught on camera?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Heliconius Butterflies demonstrating mimicry

Well done if you correctly identified the specimen last week as a butterfly of the Genus Heliconius (the specimen shown was Heliconius charithonia). These beautiful butterflies are found in the tropics and have a characteristic shape with elongated forewings, and brilliant colour patterns of  black, red, orange, white and iridescent blue.

This group of butterflies was noticed by the explorer Henry Walter Bates who wrote the first scientific accounts of mimicry. They are an important group because they provide examples of both:

Batesian mimicry (harmless butterfly species have evolved to mimic the warning signals of poisonous Heliconius species and so avoid being eaten by predators)

Müllerian mimicry (two or more poisonous Heliconius species that live close together evolve to mimic each other’s warning signals and so reduce the number of both species that get eaten by predators)

Click here to read more about mimicry in nature.

The Genus this butterfly belongs to played an important part in the study of mimicry. Can you name the Genus?

Name that Genus!

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Our Asian Elephant foreleg (Elephas maximus) towers over all visitors to the museum. Not surprising as the shoulder height of Asian Elephants is between 2.5 and 3 meters tall!

Asian Elephants are the largest living land animals in Asia. The males can weigh over 5.5 tons; to distribute this weight their feet have a large surface area with a tough layer of fat on the bottom to act as a shock absorber.

Asian Elephants are listed as Endangered, primarily due to habitat loss. They are also hunted for ivory.

Something is afoot in the museum. A very big foot. But whose is it?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Well done if you knew the photo last week was of a Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera). We have several specimens upstairs in the museum which form part of a display on mimicry. 

The word ‘Ophrys’ is taken from the Greek word for eyebrow and ‘apifera’ refers to the bee-shaped lip of the flowers.

The Orchid visually mimics female bees and to a male bee it also feels and smells like one. Male bees try to copulate with the flowers and in doing to transfer pollen between them.

Our object this week might raise a few eyebrows (in more ways than one). Some insects certainly can’t pass it by without a second look. Do you know what this might bee?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Apteryx haastii - The Great Spotted Kiwi

 Well done to Ellen for spotting that our image last week was the beak of our Great Spotted Kiwi. This is one of the 5 species of Kiwi that can be found on the islands of New Zealand.

Kiwis are remarkable creatures for many reasons, their beaks being one of them. They are the only birds with nostrils at the end of their beak and have a highly developed sense of smell - very handy for animals that are most active at night.

Kiwis lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any bird. For several days before the egg is laid the female stops eating – there is simply no more room inside her!

Who has a beak like this?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Ichthyosaur head

The name Ichthyosaur translates literally as ‘fish lizard’. They were marine reptiles alive during the time of the dinosaurs, that on the outside appeared very much like a dolphin. The same streamlined shape that made the Ichthyosaurs so successful arose again in Dolphins and is an excellent example of convergent evolution.

The first complete Ichthyosaur fossil was found by 12 year old Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. She famously spent her life hunting for fossils on the coast of Dorset; she came from a poor family and the money they earned from selling fossils made up most of their income. 

This marine reptile has quite the stoney gaze. Do you know what it is? 

Look into my eye...

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Snakeskin shoes

You can find our object of the week on the table in Huxley’s study. Do you think you know what it is? (Hint: Image not shown to scale)

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Sea mouse (Aphrodita aculeata)

 

Our photo last week was a close-up of the spines, or setae, of our sea mouse (Aphrodita aculeata). It is a marine worm in the class Polychaeta (=many bristles).

Although the sea mouse is generally brown in colour, the spines are iridescent and reflect light back in a rainbow of colours.

Scientists are studying the sea mouse because their spines are better at reflecting light than man-made optical fibres. Nature thinks of everything first! 

Click here to read more about this research.

Side view of the sea mouse

Our object this week is a marine animal that lives on the sea floor. On initial inspection it appears quite plain, but just wait until it catches the light …

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Ostrich egg (looking a bit yellow here)

 Well done if you knew or guessed our object last week was an Ostrich egg. Ostriches (Struthio camelus) are the largest living birds on the planet and also lay the largest egg of any living bird (although it is not the largest in relation to body size).

Ostrich eggs on average are about 15cm long – you could just about hold it in one of your hands. Dominant males have a harem of females that lay their eggs together in a communal nest. There will be about twenty eggs in the nest and the male and females take it in turns to incubate them.