I have to admit – there’s something special about about getting up at an ungodly hour to do something or see something out of the ordinary. Driving this morning through a beautifully still Wellington morning with no traffic is something out of the ordinary in itself 🙂 So it wasRead more
Many people have asked us why the colossal squid specimen was so much smaller than anticipated when we thawed it. Initial reports suggested that the specimen was considerably larger than the final measurement of 4.2 metres in total length. We suspected that the specimen had shrunk (rather than the size beingRead more
With less than a month to go until our squid meets her adoring fans, there is still much to be done behind the scenes, not least of which is trying to figure out the best way of getting a 2.5 tonne display tank – squid included – from its storageRead more
I’m one of the Botany Curators at Te Papa, and ferns are one of my specialties. New Zealand has about 200 native ferns, and some of them are very rare. We recently rediscovered one rare fern that had been ‘lost’. I was beginning to wonder if it had become extinct,Read more
Work is underway preparing the mounting system for the colossal squid in its display tank. Unless the squid is supported by acrylic mounts it will remain a collapsed heap on the bottom of the tank – not very appealling! To display it in as realistic pose as possible a seriesRead more
It’s a lovely spring Friday morning in Wellington. What else would we (Pamela, Chris and Judy – our brave and newest squid team member) be doing other than dissecting a couple of nice fresh squid from the local wholesale fish supplier? It’s all in the interest of bringing you a bigger andRead more
Bioluminescence (light produced by living animals or plants) is common among squid – it is estimated that two-thirds of all squid genera contain bioluminescent (light producing) species. Light production using photophores (special light producing structures) can be found nearly anywhere on the body of some squid species: the most common ones are:Read more
The squid has been stitched as much as we can – Steve describes it as trying to sew two blocks of butter together. As we re-fill the tank with the glycol mixture we are placing bags filled with water to spread the mantle out and give it some support. BeingRead more
Specimens in museum collections are usually preserved in a 70 per cent aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol or in a 2-4 per cent solution of formaldehyde (5-10 per cent formalin). The great disadvantages of ethyl alcohol are that it is flammable, it volatilizes very readily, it tends to produce precipitatesRead more
Other squid families have hooks on the arms, or the tentacles, or both, but the colossal squid is the only hooked squid in its family (the Cranchiidae, about 20 species). It possesses hooks on each of the eight arms, and also on the club ends of the two long tentacles,Read more
So I’m at my desk when my cell rings – its Anton (you know – our Collection Manager Marine Mammals)… “Do you wanna see a dead whale?” Of course! So off I trot (nice and quicksmart in time with whatever’s playing on my MP3) – not even worrying about whatRead more
On Sunday evening 11 May 2008 Te Papa closed Whales|Tohorā. Over 140,000 people had visited the exhibition. During the morning several killer whales, or orca, played by the fountain in Oriental Bay – much to the delight and amazement of several of the Whales exhibition team members. We like toRead more
Above is a picture of the Pygmy right whale lung, it’s about 45cm long when stretched out like it is below. The lungs sit under the backbone of the whale and isn’t divided into lobes like human lungs are. The scientists told me that they think it’s smaller than usualRead more
Above you see the tongue of the baby pygmy right whale. Whales lips aren’t flexible enough to form a suction around the mother’s nipple like human babies do. To latch on to the mother’s nipple, a baby whale curls its tongue. A good suction is assisted by the flaps onRead more
We just found the ovaries – the specimen is a girl! Here’s an image from the microscope video (x150) – showing a bunch of eggs….the ovaries are full of several thousands of eggs!Read more
