International Wildlife Museum in Tucson

Hooray stuffed and mounted dead things!

We just got back from the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, as mentioned in the title, and it was even better than I remembered it as a child.  I was only about eight or nine years old when we went, but twenty some years later I wanted to go again.

Mostly, I just remembered "Goat Mountain"...

There's also a very horrifying room filled with heads.  Hundreds of heads.

(Note broken tail on the lioness in foreground.  At least she hasn't just been tossed away.  I think she's out in front for the kids to pet.)

I just can't resist these places.

Here's some more pictures!!

Demon Deer!!!! ( or elk,  I wasn't paying attention.)

Birds of Paradise.

It's only $7 per adult!  There are also many beautiful insect displays with mounted butterflies, moths, beetles and stick bugs.

So, if for some reason you ever end up in Tucson, you have to go.  That's an order.

Nova Musical Minds on PBS

If you have any interest in music or the human mind you HAVE to see this episode of Nova.  Nova is an amazing science show on PBS, and I hope you already know about it.

This episode deals with how music effects the brain.  Some of the stories featured include an autistic man who can play back any piece of music he's heard only once, how drumming helps give one man relief from the tics of his Tourette's syndrome temporarily, and how one man developed the urge to take up classical piano after being struck by lightning.

There is also a segment devoted to the Beth Abraham hospital's musical treatments.  Music sessions have shown that some people in a catatonic state can dance and play musical instruments even though they can't walk or talk.  Moby is now directly involved in their therapy program.

Also in the program, fMRI images of people listening to music compared to images of them imagining the music.   The host also climbs into the maching to listen to two pieces of music including Bach (that he loves) and Beethoven (that he does not care for) to let the doctors see how his brain reacts. 

Anyway, here's the link to the show.  Musical Minds.

Musical Minds homepage.

Make sure you check out the books he's authored.

Book recommendation number two

Two of my favorite things are history books and natural history museums.  I like creepy, old dead things with informative placards and bad lighting.  If you can kinda smell the weirdness, that's even better.  I finally got to go to The Field Museum in Chicago a few years back.  Awesome.

(Photos are from The Field Museum Website)

My want to visit was sparked by the great book Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums, by Stephen T. Asma.

From back cover:  "Asma takes us on a wide-ranging tour of natural history museums in New York and Chicago, London and Paris, interviewing curators, scientists, and exhibit designers, and providing a wealth of fascinating observations. We learn how the first museums were little more than high-toned side shows, with such garish exhibits as the pickled head of Peter the Great's lover. In contrast, today's museums are hot-beds of serious science, funding major research in such fields as anthropology and archaeology."

 The title of the first chapter is "Flesh-eating Beetles and Secret Art of Taxidermy" and in it he describes how pieces are prepared for storage and exhibition by letting beetles eat all the leftover meat, etc. from the bones of animals.  And who doesn't want to read about taxidermy?

(Photo taken in Hunterian Museum in London from Atlas Obscura website.  Click on the link if you love this kind of stuff)

Other chapters describe the evolution of taxonomy.  When "cabinets of curiosity" (similar to above, but creepier) ruled the scene, specimens were organized by completely different categories than they are now.  So, all the livers were together in one cabinet, all the beaks in another. And, yes, there were penis cabinets and eyeball cabinets, too.

A few other museums mentioned in the book:

American Museum of Natural History

Britains Museum of Natural History

Franklin Institute Science Museum
Grande Galerie de l’Evolution at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to visit the Galerie d'anatomie comparee in Paris anytime soon.

(Infant skeletons.  Photo from above link)