Biodiversity
Monthly Archive: December Biod
Blue Whale Update
![Cleaning the Bones Three men working next to a shipping container that contains the Blue Whale bones and manure.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/20141016_151216.jpg?itok=nwMmtDNh)
Blue Whale Update
Finding a Safe Passageway Across the 401
![Eastern milk snakes (Species at Risk - Special Concern) found beside Highway #401 between Gananoque and Brockville, Ontario Two small, striped snakes touch snouts while wound about a person's hand.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/hwy_401_2014_1-resized.jpg?itok=3pkU3ccZ)
Ecologists working together to ensure the safety of wildlife along some of Canada's busiest highway.
ROM Photographer of the Year 2014: Recap
![Nzuri. Nairobi National Park, Kenya. | Photo by Amanda Girgis, Membership Communications Coordinator A group of antelope gather on a grassy plain.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/amandagirgis1_wildlife.jpg?itok=U9mjizMW)
A look back at the top photos from our 2014, in-house photography contest!
Sustainable development in the Caribbean: beer and biology
![Humans are not the only mammals that enjoy the Caribbean islands | Image from Wikimedia Commons A man & a woman in bathing suits pose on a small catamaran on a sun-lit, white sand beach](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/puj_royalturquesa_beach_002.jpg?itok=RXexnqPD)
Dr. Burton Lim and colleagues are off to study bats and other island mammals in the sun!
A Spotlight on Illegal Pelt Trading, and What the ROM Has to Do With It
![A look into the ROM mammalogy collections. Photo by Matt Jenkins Tags on confiscated furs within the ROM Collections. Photo by Matt Jenkins](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/matt_jenkins_rom_blog-1_title_shot.jpg?itok=Wq9o5SH0)
Guest blog post by Environmental Visual Communication alumnus Matt Jenkins.
Celebrating its centennial birthday this year, the ROM has always stood as a place of education, family enjoyment and research. That is why I found it surprising that the ROM identifies nearly one quarter of its roughly one thousand pelts as ‘seized’ or illegal. Fear not though, as I learned, they are at the museum with the proper permits and have actually played integral roles in assisting the prevention of illegal pelt trading.
Roads, Roads, Roads - Road Ecology in Canada
![Road Ecology in Canada - let's discuss! Photo by Stacey Kerr Road Ecology experts stand with bright fluorescent safety vests next to Terry Fox Drive in Kanata, Ontario](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/2014-11-28_slk-252.jpg?itok=EiRjgJVE)
November 27-28 brought 110 of the top Canadian road ecology minds together for a conference in Ottawa that started the conversation about this emerging science at a national scale.
Photography in the Field: equal parts business & pleasure
![Landing - A giant petrel attempts to land at Robert Point, Antarctica | Photo by Thomas Cullen A large white bird (a giant petrel) comes in for a landing on a rough, rocky ridge; another such bird sits nearby.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/tc_landing_-_resized.jpg?itok=m8Rxrwfj)
Guest blogger Thomas Cullen shares his thoughts on photography in the field.
Unfrozen in Time: From the Erebus and Terror to the ROM
![Watercolor of the grave of G.S. Malcolm A.B., who died of frostbite during the search for Franklin. Photo by Dorea Reeser Watercolor of the grave of G.S. Malcolm A.B., who died of frostbite during the search for Franklin. Photo by Dorea Reeser](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/dorea_reeser_botany_adam_white_scrapbook_15.jpg?itok=jASmIHuI)
Today’s blog post is a glimpse of a tale that is largely untold. It is the story of the exploration of the Canadian Arctic, as seen by Adam White in his botanical scrapbooks. These scrapbooks were donated to the University of Toronto, and came to the ROM together with what is now the ROM’s Green Plant Herbarium. What do these scrapbooks have to do with Franklin, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror? It’s a fantastic story!
What exactly is a LOT?
![Specimens are preserved, sorted into LOTS, identified, and catalogued Several fish in a jar](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/twitter_collection_specimen_with_ecological_data_historical_b_1.jpg?itok=lAMWBTY2)
In the past 100 years, the Ichthyology section at the ROM has amassed over one million fish specimens from around the world in one of the largest fish collections in North America. These specimens are preserved, sorted into LOTS, identified, catalogued and shelved like books in a library.
Are you Afraid FOR Bats This Halloween?
![Two little brown bats fly over Rouge Park during the 2012 Ontario BioBlitz. Photo by Stacey Lee Kerr two little brown bats fly in a twilit sky over Rouge Park during the 2012 Ontario BioBlitz. Photo by Stacey Lee Kerr](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/2012-06-15_slk_294-edit-2_bats-3.jpg?itok=B_L88BaL)
I love bats. There’s just something about them that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside everytime I see one. Now I know what you (and to be honest, a lot of people I know) are thinking - how can she like such a creepy little mammal like a bat? Don’t they suck your blood/get caught in your hair/give you the heebie jeebies? First of all, the answer to those questions is no.