Comments on: Museum science dissections – a new trend?

By: pamelalovis

pamelalovis — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:01:18 +0000

Hi Jonathan
Not sure if you mean that you’d like to see them at the time or view them online? The squid dissection wasn’t a public event that you could go and see – it wasn’t possible in such a small lab to let people in to view it other than the team of scientists and some media. But there is some webcam footage of the squid dissection on Te Papa’s website here The squid dissection features in the Discovery Channel doco about the Colossal Squid which has been shown in the US and was screened here in NZ this week.

The whale dissection we did was done in the same lab as the squid. Again, in such a small space it wasn’t feasible to have people watching and sadly we weren’t able to do a webcast. But we did manage to take some great pics and do some live blogging.

You can see some video of the Auckland Museum’s shark dissection on their website – this event was held outside and seen by a big crowd.

Hope this helps.
Pamela

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:55:35 +0000

I would like to know how to get to view these museum events?

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:29:19 +0000

I saw too that there was a public dissection of a white pointer recently (in Auckland I think plus one in Nelson)………….. I have to say though we at Portobello have been doing public dissections for a couple of years (blowing own trumpet here!!!)!! We’ve done a couple of sharks ( Porbeagle and a Blue) plus we do hands on dissections usually spiny dogfish or Arrow Squid, We unfortunately don’t have the capacity to webcast it all. I think these are great and the public obviously think so if the turnout and web hits are anything to go by!

Publicity for us is by flyers, poster and on our website, we also have an email list (much like yours) that we advertise upcoming events on. Would be great to co-ordinate such events, although for us big dissections are serendipitous and only happen if a) a local fisher catches something impressive and B) brings it in thinking of us !!!

By: pamelalovis

pamelalovis — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:28:39 +0000

Hi Mark
Yes I agree – it would be good if museums could get better at coordinating with each other, as you suggest. It’s something we’ll have to work on! We certainly need to think about how such events get publicised, and how to take account of time differences etc. Not sure what Te Papa’s next such event will be, but we’re definitely thinking about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if before too long there’s another big colossal squid specimen to examine – and we’re still hoping to see a male! thanks for keeping in touch. Pamela

By: Mark (Smivs) Smitheman

Mark (Smivs) Smitheman — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:33:48 +0000

This is a trend that I, for one, welcome. The Collosal Squid webcasts and whale dissection were compelling and fascinating, and I am really looking forward to the next one.
One potential annoyance is that you often only find out about these events too late. It would be nice if there was some way that all the museums doing this type of work could co-ordinate, promoting each other and publicising up-coming events in good time.
Keep up the good work,
Regards,
Mark (Smivs) Smitheman