Imps of Darkness

“The black Lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large (2-3 ft.) most disgusting, clumsy Lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl & seek their prey from the Sea. Somebody calls them “imps of darkness.” They assuredly well become the land they inhabit.”

— September 17th, 1835. From the diary of Charles Darwin

Today is the birthday of Charles Darwin. He is of course famous for his science and history changing opus magnus, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. He is also known for his interest in finches, giant tortoises, barnacles, and insectivorus plants. It is not widely known though his revulsion for one animal seen in the Galapagos Islands during his visit on the Beagle.

The "imps of darkness" he refers to are the species of marine iguana seen during his travels.

Marine iguanas. Photo by Max Ruckman

Although Darwin himself did not coin the term, he saw it fitting for such a bizarre animal. Others have been fascinated by them as well. Herman Melville, in his novella, Las Encantadas writes:

“Another feature in these isles is their emphatic uninhabitableness. It is deemed a fit type of all-forsaken overthrow that the jackal should den in the wastes of weedy Babylon, but the Encantadas refuse to harbor even the outcasts of the beasts. Man and wolf alike disown them. Little but reptile life is here found: tortoises, lizards, immense spiders, snakes, and that strangest anomaly of outlandish nature, the iguana. No voice, no low, no howl is heard; the chief sound of life here is a hiss.”

Happy birthday Mr. Darwin. Thank you for your contributions to the understanding of life on this planet.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Carte de visite by Elliott & Fry. Cleanup and colorizing by Mads Madsen.

Blast from the Past Volume 1: The Bruce Zoo

Most visitors know the Bruce Museum for its unique combination of art and science exhibitions, but were you aware that the museum once had its own zoo? For over 50 years, an assortment of monkeys, parrots, snakes, and other creatures dwelt within the museum.  One popular resident was Mrs. Dale, an African Green Monkey show in the photo below with her son Bruceter, named as part of a Mother's Day write-in contest. Within our archives lie the particulars of each creature including index cards with records of vet check-ups, the menu of the day (milk-soaked bread, a half of a potato, and a small portion of raisins for breakfast), and various notices of animals that were recognized as longevity record-holders in their day.

With the changing of the times, zoos have shifted from merely displaying animals (often in sparse cages) to become more conservation-themed organization with improved enclosures that closely mimic the natural habitats of the resident animals. The zoo was wound down by 1980, as the animals were transferred to larger organizations that could provide better environments. Nonetheless, visitors can still enjoy live animals at our Marine Tank which houses a happy collection of horseshoe crabs, spider crabs, oyster toadfish, sea stars, and Lucky the lobster. Live feedings take place every Tuesday and Friday afternoon.

Happy Penguin Awareness Day

January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day. Consider celebrating by joining us at the Bruce Museum for a penguin evolution talk by curator Daniel Ksepka and a live demonstration of 3D penguin printing.  The event will be held in the same gallery as the photography show Antarctica: Images of an Ancient Land, featuring the work of Diane Tuft.

Penguin Prototype Completed

This afternoon we welcomed the 3D printed prototype of our penguin to meet the original. In the photo, you'll notice a few differences. The colors of our old reliable penguin have faded a bit over the last half century, which is natural in older museum specimens. I still think he/she (we don't know the sex for this specimen) has charm. The spot and collar patterns were carefully done but are not 100% accurate because the current scanning technology detects the surface of the scanned object, but not the color. Overall it is really nice to have not only a light weight printed replica of our penguin, but a virtual copy that can be viewed instantly on a computer.

You can meet them both next Tuesday (January 20th) at the Bruce Museum Penguin Awareness Day event. Doors open at 6:30pm for refreshments, and the talk and demonstration starts at 7:00pm.

Now On Display

On Monday, we flooded Greenwich's Town Hall with some marine biology. There are a mix of animals from diverse ocean habitats: tropical corals and sea fans, a subarctic harbor porpoise skeleton, and two big fish. But while the queen triggerfish (center) is an adult, the strange-looking Mola mola (left) can grow to be more than 10 feet tall, and weigh over two thousand pounds!

The specimens will be on exhibit for the rest of the month—check it out! 

How to Print a Penguin: Part 2

In an earlier post, we saw the Bruce penguin being scanned at MakerBot.  Now for the test - will the scan print out correctly? We decided to start small, with this three inch tall version. It looks a little like a penguin cookie awaiting frosting, but the beak, flippers, and feet came out very well. Soon, we will give it a run at full power and see if we can create a perfect life-size replica!

Hour of Code

Hello world! Robin here. On Friday, I wrapped up a whirlwind two weeks of bringing the Hour of Code to local elementary schools. It's a great program organized by Code.org to introduce millions of people to computer science.

I started coding as a grad student—it's a really interesting (and efficient) way of interacting with a computer. For Hour of Code, we used a language called Scratch to make interactive holiday cards.

How to Print a Penguin: Part 1

Our Bruce Museum  Black-footed Penguin sure gets around town. Originally from South Africa, this fellow now resides in our natural history collection: you may remember the penguin from last week's naming contest. Our still nameless penguin has been on another adventure, this time serving as the model for a technological demonstration. In this photo, our penguin is sitting on a chair being laser scanned (actually, he is a tad short so had to stand on a milk crate). The screen to the right shows the read-out.

This 3D scan will allow us to make a replicate of the penguin at live size. The Bruce Museum is partnering with the local MakerBot store for a special Penguin Appreciation Day event where we will have a penguin evolution lecture and then print a penguin live. If you are in the Greenwich CT area on January 11th, please join us at 6:30pm.