Royal Ontario Museum Blog
Monthly Archive: December
Entomystery – why did the beetles go to camp?
Occasionally, I put on my entomological detective hat to investigate insect mysteries. This one was a beetle mystery at my son’s camp in a Toronto elementary school. My son reported a large number (hundreds!) of tiny beetles swarming the windows in his classroom and asked me to look at them.
The ROM's Remarkable Bees
![European Honey Bees Honey Bees clustered in a hive](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/europeanhoneybees.jpg?itok=JYGfp5Zr)
Guest blog by Antonia Guidotti, Entomology Technician
ROM visitors love the live hive of European Honey Bees in the Hands-on Biodiversity Gallery. They are encouraged to look for the queen bee and if they find her, will receive an “I found the Queen Bee” sticker.
Most Common Questions
Are they alive?
Yes, they are. Look closely at the hive and you will see how busy these bees are.
What do they eat?
Presenting our Winners of the 2023 ROM Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest
![Hiding (c) Yaron Eini Hiding (c) Yaron Eini](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/1.romwpyon_yaroneini_grandprizewinner_lr.jpg?itok=WV_n7gTI)
Captivating Images from Winners of the ROM Photographer of the Year Contest
Presenting our Winners of the 2022 ROM Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest
![Leopard Love @ Yaron Eini Leopard Love @ Yaron Eini](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/romwpyon_grandprizewinner_yaron_eini.jpg?itok=bSB3USI7)
Captivating Images from Winners of the ROM Photographer of the Year Contest
Presenting our Winners of the 2021 ROM Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest
![The Midnight Prowl © Andrew Budziak The Midnight Prowl © Andrew Budziak](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/romwpyon_grandprizewinner_andrew_budziak.jpg?itok=cCvnhFI_)
Captivating Images from Winners of the ROM Photographer of the Year Contest
Honouring the Victims
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji‘un
The above Arabic phrase is derived from the Qur’an (2:156), the Holy Book of all Muslims, which translates as ‘Indeed, to God we belong and to God we shall return.’ It is commonly recited by Muslims across the world upon hearing news that a person has died.
Huge cache of fossils from the Burgess Shale reveal a new species of large predator
![Credit: Lars Fields. © Royal Ontario Museum. Reconstruction illustration of Cambroraster falcatus.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/doublecambroraster.jpg?itok=p-hsIvv5)
Joe Moysiuk – Phd Student & Vanier Scholar, Royal Ontario Museum & University of Toronto
Safavid Tile Project IV: The Artist behind the Arches
![Dragon Hunt, displayed in Wirth Gallery of the Middle East. Tile Arch, cuerda seca, Isfahan, Iran, c. 1685. Royal Ontario Museum Dragon Hunt, displayed in Wirth Gallery of the Middle East. Tile Arch, cuerda seca, Isfahan, Iran, c. 1685. Royal Ontario Museum](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/rom2019_17003_1.jpg?itok=AWe7_YBY)
Some of the most noticeable objects in the ROM's Wirth Gallery of The Middle East are two friezes of tiles that would have been in the spandrels of arches. These were made in Iran in the last third of the 17th century under the Safavid dynasty, probably for a palatial building in Isfahan. The ROM also has parts of other spandrel friezes, and also some stray tiles that belong to yet other friezes. In order to understand these objects more fully, ROM staff have been undertaking research on the tiles.
From Meteorites to Slime- A Look at the ROMForYou “Space Day” at The Hospital For Sick Children
![© Jayshree Khimasia](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/sickkidsmar19-6.jpg?itok=ZSpvOS-I)
(written by Min Wong, member of ROMForYou, Friends of Earth and Space, Friends of Paleontology)
An Innovative Approach to A Puzzling Problem
![Sheridan College student Lara Morrison preparing images for digital textile printing. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Herrara. A young woman sits in front of a laptop computer surrounded by squares of patterned fabric.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/indian_chintz_cope_0.jpg?itok=FZUmbm8f)
Conserving an Indian Chintz Cope made in the Eighteenth Century for the Armenian Church
Here in the Textile Conservation department of the ROM, Senior Textile Conservator Chris Paulocik and I have begun preparing objects for display in the upcoming exhibition: “The Cloth that Changed the World: India’s Painted and Printed Cottons”.