Mammalogy
Monthly Archive: December Mamm
Hippos and Whales: Unlikely Cousins
![Photo by: http://www.statedclearly.com/ Whales and hippos share a common ancestor. Photo by: http://www.statedclearly.com/](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/whale_hippo.jpg?itok=bsiSpDVD)
Guest blog written by Environmental Visual Communication student Natasha Hirt
What do hippos and whales have in common? A tonne. It may seem surprising that hippos are the closest living relative to whales. At the ROM's Blue Whale Exhibition, visitors can explore what whales and other marine mammals looked like over 50 million years ago.
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.
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.
Sloth Life
![Upside-down Two-toed sloth http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_toed_sloth.JPG Upside-down Two-toed sloth](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/upside-down-two-toed-sloth.jpg?itok=k5FIXtI4)
What you may or may not know about this unusual mammal.
BREAKING: Royal Ontario Museum to recover two rare Northwest Atlantic blue whales
![Blue Whale skeleton on display in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, BC. Photo by alans1948 via Flickr Creative Commons. Cropped. https://flic.kr/p/cR1hpj The blue whale skeleton hangs in the atrium at the Beaty Museum.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/7774487928_8e5af1d68e_b.jpg?itok=b8AuHWUD)
The ROM Biodiversity will send a crew to salvage two blue whales that washed ashore on the coast of Newfoundland last week.
Into the Heart of Borneo
![Chris welcomes visitors to ROM March Break 2013, in a tent he will bring to Borneo Chris welcomes visitors to ROM March Break 2013, in a tent he will bring to Borneo](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/img_2779.jpg?itok=nSUchWPq)
In April 2013, ROM Biodiversity is sending a team of researchers deep into the Bornean rainforest in search of new species of insects, mammals and fungi and new data of relevance to conservation planning.