Media Center | NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Museum educator visits Arctic Circle

Leave it to Coordinator of Teacher Education Mike Dunn to find a creative way to beat the summer heat. sea ice from the icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn Dunn and videographer Art Howard spent 30 days (from mid-August to mid-September) cruising the Arctic Circle aboard the Russian Icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn. The two joined the crew on their fifth scientific cruise to the Arctic Ocean under the auspices of the NABOS (Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System) K-12 Teacher Summer School.

One of the primary missions of NABOS is the deployment of moorings that provide long-term data on ocean currents, salinity and temperature. Data collected from the moorings are entered into climate and ocean circulation models which are used to predict what changes may occur to Earth’s climate if the Arctic undergoes a rapid warming. polar bear - photo by Mike Dunn The NABOS 2004 observations showed that a new pulse of unusually warm Atlantic water has entered the Arctic Ocean, suggesting that the Arctic Ocean is in transition towards a new, warmer state. Recent findings indicate this occurrence to be continuing.

The summer school provides a unique opportunity for participants to learn about the Arctic from leading scientists and educators, in a wide spectrum of polar and Earth system science disciplines, and to experience arctic exploration as they observe and participate in some of the high-latitude arctic climate change research under the guidance of experienced polar researchers.

Dunn’s trip, including a daily journal and photographs, was reported online on the Museum’s Web site. Archives can be found at naturalsciences.org/education/arctic/

Marketing Director garners three Tellys

Television ads produced in-house by Marketing Director Jeff Williford recently won three Telly Awards, one of the most sought after awards in the TV, commercial and video industry. Williford’s Public Service Announcements for past traveling exhibits “CSI: Crime Scene Insects” and “BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head” won him two bronze and one silver (the highest award given in the competition) in the Commercial category of the 27th Annual Telly Awards announced in June.

With a record 13,379 entries from all 50 states and around the world, this year’s competition was the most competitive and successful in the long history of the Telly Awards. Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators and corporate video departments in the world.

State record tarpon

Susan Hudson lying next to record tarpon

In 2005, Jesse Lockowitz of Carteret County broke the tarpon state record, landing a 175-pound fish at the Bogue Inlet pier. The nearly-seven-foot specimen is now in the hands of Museum researchers, who have buried the ichthyological treasure under a hefty pile of manure outside their laboratory in west Raleigh. After several months of natural, biological cleansing, the bones will be unearthed, prepared and placed in the Museum’s osteology collections.

According to Curator of Fishes Wayne Starnes, there are no plans as yet to place the skeleton on exhibit. “Articulating this fish would be a real bear,” he says. “This is such a primitive fish, with a tremendous number of intermuscular bones … putting it all together would be an exhausting job.”

"Treasures" find home in Museum

The North Carolina Treasures Collection was permanently installed on the Museum’s 2nd floor in September. This collection has its roots in the “Treasures Unearthed” special exhibit, which showcased nearly 300 specimens of North Carolina gems and minerals, most from the private collection of one anonymous North Carolinian.

“Through the generosity of our corporate supporters, SAS Institute Inc. and Martin Marietta Materials, the private collection showcased in ‘Treasures Unearthed’ will now be on permanent displayed in the Museum,” said Director Betsy Bennett. “We’re so excited that they’ve helped make this possible.”

Museum exhibit staff were able to incorporate display cases from “Treasures Unearthed” along with reconfiguring sections of the Reed Gold Mine into the Underground North Carolina gallery and adjacent hallway. The permanent display will showcase 118 gem and mineral specimens, along with 24 historic mining artifacts and parts of the Museum’s meteorite collection.

The big duck gun

This fall, a punt gun on display at the Museum of Natural Sciences for the past 99 years will be on loan to the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education in Corolla for its new exhibit on the natural and cultural heritage of Currituck Sound. Known as the “big duck gun,” the firearm is 9½ feet long and weighs more than 100 pounds. It was last used in Currituck County before the Civil War.

A punt gun is a type of extremely large shotgun used in the 19th and 20th centuries for shooting large numbers of waterfowl (mostly ducks, geese and swans) for commercial harvesting operations. In addition to the market for food, women’s fashion in the mid 1800s added a major demand for feathers to adorn hats.

Punt guns were usually custom-designed and so varied widely, but could have bore diameters up to two inches. They were too big to hold and the recoil so strong that they were mounted directly on punts — flat-bottomed boats designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Hunters would maneuver their punts quietly into line and range of the flock using poles and, POW! A single shot from one of these huge guns, carrying as much as two pounds of shot or scrap iron and five ounces of powder, could kill as many as 50 birds.

To increase efficiency even further, punt hunters would often work in groups of eight to 10 boats. By lining up their boats and coordinating the firing of their single-shot weapons, entire flocks of birds could be “harvested” with a single volley. It was not unusual for such a band of hunters to acquire more than 500 birds in a single day.

This practice depleted the vast flocks of waterfowl that wintered in the marshes of Currituck Sound. By 1870, laws were introduced in North Carolina to protect these migratory birds from punt guns. The federal Lacey Act of 1900 banned the transport of wild game (or feathers) across state lines, and a 1918 treaty protecting migratory birds effectively ended the practice of market hunting. There are few punt guns remaining.

The punt gun will be back on display in the Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature’s Explorers Hall this winter.

Educator of Excellence drawn to Prairie Ridge

The Museum has created a new opportunity for Educators of Excellence to participate in a five-week residency at the Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife and Learning. The residency continues the relationship between the Museum and educators who have already participated in Educators of Excellence Institutes. There will be various projects associated with the residency, which will be offered every summer. Educators may create or contribute to public programs, help with citizen science, make field guides and assist with data collection.

Linda Tugurian, a science-technology teacher at Forest View Elementary in Durham, was the first Educator in Residence. “It is a special opportunity because it allows educators to be a part of something significant,” says Tugurian, who made a trail guide for the Upper Forest Trail (among other things) during her stay from June to August 2006.

Tugurian adds that the residency can rejuvenate teachers and help them bring a spark into their classrooms, which benefits their students. “For me, it’s nice to get a chance to touch the natural science side. Being here is an honor, it’s different than being in the classroom, and it’s fun.” The Museum also benefits because the educator’s classroom experience provides a nice insight into the school and public programs that currently, or could eventually, take place at Prairie Ridge.

Alumni of the Educators of Excellence program interested in this opportunity should contact Mary Ann Brittain at 919-733-7450, ext. 675.