Royal Ontario Museum Blog

Monthly Archive: December

Primate Conservation and the Bushmeat Crisis

Posted: September 27, 2011 - 16:38 , by Nicole Richards
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Primates have been at the forefront of The Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity these days.

Experience a Taste of Life during Medieval Times

Posted: September 27, 2011 - 08:34 , by royal

Rob Mason, is an archaeological scientist whose research interests include art, technology, trade, and industry from the beginnings of time to the industrial revolution. But you may recognize him as a dancing knight from our Medieval Dancing presentations!

Don’t miss the ROM’s Medieval Fall Fair this weekend, October 1 – 2.

Space junk: what goes up …

Posted: September 26, 2011 - 11:35 , by ROM
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The ability to place man-made devices – satellites – in orbit around our planet has revolutionized the ways in which we communicate and allowed us to study our planet, our solar system and our universe in ways not otherwise possible. In fact, satillites are so useful that there is a growing lack of space in outer space. Our planet is surrounded by literally tens of millions of pieces of man-made material ranging from dust and flecks of paint, to multi-tonne satellites and spent rocket components.

Summerasuarus: Dino Storage

Posted: September 21, 2011 - 08:53 , by royal

Recently, we visited at the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab to see how dinosaur bones are extracted from their plaster field jackets after they are hauled back from the field by palaeontologists like Dr. David Evans.

But where does the ROM store these fossils once they are free from their rock matrix? Welcome to Vertebrate Palaeontology Collections room, housing more than 75,000 fossilized bone specimens ranging in size from small toes to an entire row of Hadrosaur skulls!

From the Field: Farewell Churchill

Posted: September 15, 2011 - 13:37 , by royal

July 27

The weather forecast was pretty much on the money, and a dismal dawn yields to thunder-squalls rolling across the tundra. But, after breakfast and a second cup of coffee, the rain eases and we are a shade more optimistic about our flight out later this morning. Time for one last walkabout of our temporary home.

From the Field: Last day before departure

Posted: September 14, 2011 - 09:03 , by royal

July 26

From the Field: Hudson Bay’s Ancient Treasures

Posted: September 13, 2011 - 16:07 , by royal

July 25

Of Quilts and Quilting

Posted: September 13, 2011 - 09:09 , by royal

By Joan Schiff, Chair of the Programs and Events Committee, Friends of Textiles and Costume.

Left: A blue overcoad modeled over the quilted pink petticoat.  Right: Red and yellow flowers quilted on a white background.

Summerasaurus Part VI: Un-jacketing dino bones in the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab

Posted: September 9, 2011 - 08:52 , by royal

Today, we thought we’d offer you a behind-the-scenes look at the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab to see what happens to dino bones between being excavated and being put on display or used for research.

Unopened plaster field jackets stored on metal shelves.

From the Field: Ancient Sea Scorpion Fossil Found

Posted: September 7, 2011 - 08:39 , by royal

July 23

Clear skies at last! Down to the coast to catch good morning lighting and a fortuitously low tide, so we can see in detail how fossil-bearing Upper Ordovician carbonate deposits (445 million years old) at our main locality “lap” against the elevated flanks of a much more ancient rock mass. This highly resistant Proterozoic (about 2500 million-year-old) quartzite body is the remnant of a small island that formed part of an archipelago in shallow Ordovician subtropical seas.