Royal Ontario Museum Blog

Monthly Archive: December

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Pottery

Posted: June 29, 2014 - 09:38 , by Robert Mason
Categories: 
World Culture, Archaeology, ROM Research, From the Field
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Pottery with an earthenware fired-clay body, overall white slip, incision through the slip with a broad tool, overall lead glaze, splashed with copper-green, probably mid-14th century.

ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario

Posted: June 23, 2014 - 11:29 , by ROM
Categories: 
ROM Social Media, Technology
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Black Swallowtail - Papilio polyxenes

This is the very first field guide on the butterflies of Ontario. It highlights the diversity of life by featuring a staggering 167 species of butterflies known to occur in Ontario. The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario includes descriptive species accounts, flight season phenograms, and striking field photography of adults and caterpillars.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: Introduction

Posted: June 17, 2014 - 15:32 , by Robert Mason
Categories: 
World Culture, Archaeology, From the Field, Research
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View of the old monastery buildings from the South in 2004, with then Brother Jihad, a member of the monastery.

Robert Mason reports on his years of archaeological fieldwork at the Monastery of St Moses, Syria, in this blog series. 

 

 

Sloth Life

Posted: June 12, 2014 - 15:14 , by royal
Categories: 
Mammalogy, Biodiversity, Exhibitions and Galleries
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Upside-down Two-toed sloth

What you may or may not know about this unusual mammal.

A Fish With a Big Bang

Posted: June 11, 2014 - 13:00 , by ROM
Categories: 
Burgess Shale, Research
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Illustration of Metaspriggina

New fossils reveal first hints of the evolution of jaws in primitive fish.

Weapon Wednesday: Swords from the Philippines

Posted: May 28, 2014 - 14:30 , by Robert Mason
Categories: 
Weapon Wednesday, World Culture, Collections
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17-18th century Filipino sword #927.59.47 (photo W.C. Pratt)

The ROM's collecton of swords from the Phillipines is outlined in the context of the history and geography of the archipelago.

 

Study explores evolution of flightless birds

Posted: May 16, 2014 - 11:58 , by royal
Categories: 
Nature, Biodiversity, Natural History, Ornithology, Research
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Tinamous
Allan Baker and colleagues from Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research used genetic techniques to show that tinamous, small flying birds from Central and South America, evolved within the ratites group.

DNA confirms relationship between the giant flightless moa and the tinamous

Posted: May 13, 2014 - 12:46 , by royal
Categories: 
Biodiversity, Ornithology, Research
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One of the longest running debates in ornithology may finally  have an answer thanks to new ROM research published in science journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Kissing the Cod!

Posted: May 13, 2014 - 09:37 , by ROM
Categories: 
Nature, Biodiversity, Natural History, Research
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A close up shot of the blue whales baleen.

Environmental communicator Jacqueline Waters shares more of her experience on the ground with the ROM team working to recover a blue whale carcass in NL.

My first day in Trout River, Newfoundland: ROM biologists arrive, town is curious

Posted: May 7, 2014 - 09:04 , by ROM
Categories: 
Nature, Biodiversity, Natural History, Research
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A blue whale carcass lies upside down in the water near a rocky shoreline.

Jacqueline Waters shares her impressions from Day 1 of the ROM's efforts to recover a Blue whale specimen near Trout River, NL.