Investigate Aquatic Animals

For the month leading up to Earth Day, the Manitoba Museum is celebrating water and aquatic life. In the Learning and Engagement department, Erin Buelow has worked with curators and collections specialists to bring seldom-seen specimens to the public. These preserved animals from the museum’s natural history collection come from Manitoba and beyond, including an Australian duck-billed platypus.

The diversity of aquatic life is astounding, but it can be just as interesting to notice the adaptations that animals living in water share in common.

In a few species of aquatic animals, single fathers care for their young. The giant water bug, who you can find in Manitoba, shares this trait with the seahorse. After mating, a female giant water bug lays up to 150 eggs on the back of the male! He will tend to them for a couple weeks until they hatch. These underwater dads stay close to the water’s surface to make sure their young get enough oxygen. Similarly, the male seahorse carries fertilised eggs in a special brood pouch on the front of his body.

For semi-aquatic mammals like the beaver, ringed seal, polar bear, and platypus, fur can be nearly waterproof! When submerged, their outer layer of fur, the guard hairs, form a shield to keep the animal dry and reasonably warm. Beavers spend hours a day grooming to stay waterproof, using an oily liquid that they naturally secrete from a gland near their tail.

Two aquatic animals known for their bizarre appearance are the duck-billed platypus and the sawfish, each notable for a distinctive looking snout. The long rostrum on a sawfish has what appear to be jagged teeth along its sides. These “teeth” are actually modified scales that they use to attack prey and dig through the sediment. These animals have something else in common: special sensors in their bills to detect tiny electrical currents coming from their prey! This is especially important for the platypus, whose eyes and ears pinch shut underwater.

You can learn about these amazing aquatic creatures and many more at the Manitoba Museum this April! Every Saturday and Sunday, from 1 pm to 4 pm, leading up to Earth Days @ the Manitoba Museum, you can see and touch a diverse array of shells, bones, furs, and fossils as you discover the amazing adaptations that help these animals live and thrive in lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans throughout the world.

Mika Pineda, Learning and Engagement Producer for Youth Climate Action at the Manitoba Museum, shares her thoughts on one of Earth’s most precious resources – water. Learn more about the importance of water with month-long water-based programming at the Manitoba Museum kicking off this World Water Day, March 22.

I always find water magical. It runs without any feet; it falls without getting hurt; it is a substance that exists in three different states: solid, liquid, and gas; and it makes up almost 60 percent of a human body!

Water is something that we all need to survive, and we use it every day. It quenches our thirst, cleans our clothes, allows us to cook food, and the list goes on and on.

As our weather begins to warm up and snow starts to melt, you’re probably starting to think of fun activities that you could do under the sun – from water balloon fights, soaking in the swimming pool, to kayaking at the lake – water allows us to enjoy all these things and many more!

You see, water is all around us; it covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface!  It’s something that we use whether we want to have fun or to meet our basic needs.

While summer is still a few months away for us to enjoy all the fun water activities, there’s no better time than now to start learning about this valuable resource with engaging programming at the Manitoba Museum!

First, come celebrate World Water Day 2023 with a viewing of our brand-new Planetarium show, The Enchanted Reef, premiering March 22 and running throughout Spring Break!

When their home reef is destroyed by a fishing trawler, three brave fish set out on a quest across the polluted ocean to find the “Enchanted Reef” — a legendary pristine haven under the sea. Full of humour and imagination, this film for the whole family is an undersea adventure that raises awareness about the impact of pollution on our oceans.

To celebrate Black History Month, Curator of History Roland Sawatzky joins forces with Naomi Dennie, a teacher in Seven Oaks School Division and creator of Amplify Us, a podcast series to amplify Black experiences in the Canadian educational system. They share the story you might not know about Winnipeg’s “Elks”.

Image above: Official greeting from Ernest C. Brown, the Exalted Ruler of Menelik Lodge No. 528, in the Souvenir Program of the 10th Anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1952 (which replaced the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, established in 1917). Mr. Brown was himself a porter for the Canadian National Railway. H9-37-195, Manitoba Museum

Menelik Lodge No. 528 was founded by Winnipeg railway porters in 1917 to support the Black community with fundraising, education, and social activities. The Lodge was part of the North American fraternal society known as The Improved, Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World (IBPOEW). The IBPOEW was founded in Cincinnati in 1898 by Arthur James Riggs and Benjamin Franklin Howard, who wanted to form an alternative to the all-white Order of the Elks.

They began the society for “the expression of ideals, services and leadership in the black struggle for freedom and opportunity.” Lodge No. 528 also ensured financial support for members who became ill, and death benefits for relatives of deceased members. According to Sarah-Jane Mathieu, author of North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, porters also “likely used lodge meetings as covers for their union plotting.”

By Mike Jensen, Planetarium/Science Gallery Programs Supervisor 

When thinking of activities to do on a bright Winter’s day, science doesn’t usually come to mind. Surprisingly, science is at work with almost every fun pastime you can conduct out in the snow. You just need to know what to look for!

Of course, the first thing you think about as you zoom down a snow-covered hill on your favorite toboggan is physics, right? Well, it should be, because the laws of physics are actually in the driver’s seat when you are careening down a slope with no brakes. Next time you hit the slopes, conduct some experiments.

• Do you go faster with more or less weight?
• Does the shape or type of material of your toboggan affect how fast you go?
• Does a steeper or gentler slope make a difference to your speed?

After you’ve had your fill, come put your new-found science and engineering skills to the test at the Manitoba Museum’s Science Gallery. Design and build your newest creation at the LEGO brickyard, or see if you can be the first to cross the finish line at the Engineered for Speed Race Track!

This Winter Break, for a limited time only, the Manitoba Museum will be offering tours that give a rare look into the cargo hold of the Nonsuch. In light of this unique opportunity, I’d like to share some interesting tidbits about this replica ship and surrounding gallery. 

The Nonsuch is a full-sized replica of a 17th century ketch that was constructed in the mid-20th century to celebrate Hudson’s Bay Company’s 300th anniversary. You may have noticed that there is no wheel to steer the ship; that’s because the original Nonsuch pre-dated the invention of the ship’s wheel! Instead, the ship is guided by the tiller, a lever that connects directly to the ship’s rudder. Imagine sailing this ship across the cold North Atlantic and into the icy waters of the Hudson Strait.

I think it would have been pretty terrifying, and the chosen captain for the replica agreed. Captain Adrian Small advised that Nonsuch be towed across the Atlantic, and it began its sailing tour of North America along the St. Lawrence River. I’m often asked why the beds in the Captain’s quarters are so small, and it has nothing to do with stature. Sleeping somewhat upright, propped up with pillows, was very common during the 17th century to help with digestion and assist with breathing. Although people were a bit shorter in the past, the difference is not that great. The average height for British men in the late 1600s was 5’5”, while today the average is 5’8”.

As you wander the gallery, take note of the sights and sounds. Extensive research went in to every prop and sound in the gallery to ensure historical accuracy. All of the dishes in the tavern are replicas of actual ceramics and pewter that have been recovered archaeologically from Deptford, England that date to the late 1660s. Enjoy your visit to the Museum this Winter Break, and get ready to wow your friends and family with your newfound knowledge! 

During the current pandemic, we have all become used to the idea of virtual connections and well aware of opportunities to serve communities at home and even around the world. This is nothing new for scientific research at the Manitoba Museum – it has been reaching global audiences since we opened in 1970.

Image below: Museum exhibitions, like the new Prairies Gallery, are the result of scientific research and collaborations which provide both the specimens and their interpretation that visitors see when they visit. © Manitoba Museum/Ian McCausland 

Image above: Known from only four specimens in museum collections, Winterbottom’s goby (Callogobius winterbottomi Delventhal & Mooi) was first recognized during detailed study at the Manitoba Museum. ©Manitoba Museum

Gargoyles once roosted above the streets of historic Winnipeg, and if you look closely a few might still linger, jeering at passersby. The best set of Winnipeg gargoyles, or in this case “grotesques,” were found on the old Winnipeg Tribune Newspaper building, and the Manitoba Museum is now home to four of them.

The six-storey Tribune building was designed by Chicago architect John D. Atchison for the successful Winnipeg Tribune newspaper, completed in 1914. It was remodelled in 1969 to look more modern, and the grotesques were removed and given to various employees. The Tribune closed in 1980, after which the building was demolished.

Most of the grotesques are still in private hands and have moved around the country, but two of the original terra cotta figures can be seen in the Winnipeg Gallery. We have also added four replicas to one of our buildings in the Winnipeg 1920 cityscape.

Grotesques and gargoyles were originally found on medieval cathedrals, but here we see them on a business in downtown Winnipeg in 1914. Why? There were six original figures on the Tribune that repeated, making a total of fourteen.

Orange Shirt Day has been recognized in Manitoba since 2017. The orange shirt is a symbol of remembrance for Indian Residential School Survivors which originated with the experience of Phyllis Webstad of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. She shared her story of how her new orange shirt was taken away from her on her first day at St. Joseph Mission Indian Residential School, leaving her feeling worthless and insignificant.

Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation answer the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) call for a national day of remembrance as a way for Canadians to publicly commemorate the history and legacy of Indian Residential Schools and the resilience of Indian Residential School Survivors, their families, and communities. 

Visitors will follow a self-guided tour through the Museum Galleries to discover many exhibits relevant to the history of Indian Residential Schools and the TRC Calls to Action. Along the way they will hear Indigenous voices and perspectives in videos from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Finally, at the Manitoba Cares station, visitors will share their thoughts and make their own commitments to take action for Reconciliation.

There will be special showings in the Planetarium of Legends of the Northern Sky, which features two stories that exemplify how the Indigenous people of North America connect with the night sky in fundamental ways that resonate with their world. Visitors will also have access to hands-on experiences in the Science Gallery.

Three days of free admission to all areas from September 30 to October 2. No tickets required.