I’ve been thinking a lot about our trip to NYC since getting back. It really was a lot of fun; very enjoyable, and so many things to think about and reflect on. There were many highlights for me; I certainly won’t forget the “wows” when everyone got their initial glimpse of the Apatosaurus and T. rex skeletons. (Similar responses were noted at the Hall Of Oceans, for the model of the Blue Whale) Certainly the rhinosaurus, and gorillas at the zoo are always thrilling. And I'll always have many fond amusing memories just from our travels together. Blue Jay carrying his dinner proudly over to my table to share that he got his New York steak, and Caleigh texting Maggie – one seat away in the movie theater for example. Some moments gave me new insights into students. Lui looking at the Indian brass and artwork reflecting on her semester in Ledoc and saying how it was “weird…now I understand what this stuff means” and Caleigh, applying her knowledge of equine care to the giraffes; observing and hypothesizing that they might need medical care. Ben, whose interest in everything herpetological was exceeded only by his interest in anything edible. And rest assured I will never look at Capt. James T. Kirk in quite the same way again.
I also appreciated how many of you commented on your enjoyment and appreciation of the dioramas. It was Chris’s succinct comment about the dioramas (he thought they were “wicked awesome”) that really set me off on a great deal of thought and reflection about them. I agree with Chris, they were “wicked awesome”. But I haven’t always felt that way.
I first saw the dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History when I was a kid of maybe six or eight. Growing up in Brooklyn, I went on my own school field trips to the museum, and later as an adult I brought my own kids to the museum when they were about that same age. Throughout that period of time, I must admit that I never really cared much for the dioramas. I thought of them as being fairly dull and lifeless. Antique relics of a bygone era of museum science. (or art). The dioramas were designed to make exotic, foreign life forms accessible to the masses. Keep in mind that most people had never seen live giraffes, lions, or elephants until the 19th century. Looking at the dioramas as a kid (and as a young adult) I saw an antique exhibition of inanimate, rather than living, objects. Mere stuffed relics from a bygone era.
Returning to the museum with you, allowed me to re-visit and see these dioramas with new eyes (well, older ones anyhow). I now appreciated the tremendous artistic detail that went into each the recreation of each animal’s habitat in each diorama. I was stunned at how each diorama was designed to capture a dramatic moment in the narrative of the animals’ lives. Think about the Ostrich, its wings outstretched, protecting its young from predators. Or the Cheetahs on the prowl through the forest. The two male Alaska Moose, engaged in combat thrusting his rack into his competitor’s thorax. Mountain Gorillas, with the alpha male proudly beating his chest, re-asserting his dominance over his band, or troop. And the gentle Nile River ecosystem, with its animal communities all gathering to sip the precious liquid of life.
Looking at these dioramas now, I was re-awakened to their beauty, but I also experienced a new a sense of sadness. In a span fifty years, many of these creatures have become endangered. It now seems quite possible – if not probable – that some may become critically endangered, to the point of possible extinction. Many seem to be on the verge of disappearing from the earth. The Hall Of Oceans boasted in its diorama that the polar bear is the “top predator of this icy world”. But its world of ice is melting at an alarming rate – a rate far greater than recent predictions. And polar bears – while still plentiful – are facing extraordinarily adverse conditions, and may become extinct by the end of this century. Polar bears may live on frozen land, but they are land creatures - not sea creatures. Their habitat is melting away beneath them. Adrift on glaciers, polar bears struggle to swim increasingly long distances between arctic land masses. If a top predator disappears – even one that lords over an icy world - its surrounding ecosystem collapses along with it.
Perhaps one day one or more of you will return to the museum with your own students, or your own children. I suppose you will reminisce about our trip to New York way back in the year 2009. No doubt you’ll laugh at the quaint gasoline powered vehicles in which we drove down to the city, the flat screen upon which a “film” called Where The Wild Things Are was projected, and perhaps you'll even laugh at those little boxes called iPods that used to play your music. (How much longer before we all have our personalized playlists etched on a chip in our heads?)
Your students or children will no doubt also express amazement at the Apatosaurus and T. Rex skeletons. And as you make your way down from the fourth floor to the second and first floors that house the dioramas you will no doubt stop, and re-experience the wonder. But what will you say when the child you’re with asks you if you REALLY got to see a live gorilla or a giant white polar bear? How will you answer their questions about why they all died – or how people could have allowed them to disappear? Looking at all the technology that will no doubt surround you in the 21st century, how will you respond when they ask, “Why didn’t people do more to save them”?
What will go through your mind, 40 years from now, as you re-visit and gaze upon the same dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History. What will it be like to be an adult, knowing that your childhood was the last during which kids grew up with the knowledge that somewhere in the world, in a place far, far away there existed a wondrous world of ice and mysterious forested jungle - places Where The Wild Things Were?
5 comments:
Well Mister Engler,
this is much to consider. You are in fact at that age where I am sure you can be in that scenario that you speak of. As in you've lived through a time when an animal has gone extinct. The Carribean Monk Seal, for example, has gone extinct in your time. The reasons of extinction? Human causes.We now are forced to have that conversation.
"Rebecca, what happened to the Carribean Monk Seal?"
"Well, due to human causes, it was announced extinct on June 6, 2008."
Inexcuseable. If it was from human causes, could you not have prevented it? This gets you thinking about what we do and how it easily effects an ecosystem. Now that that seal is gone, are there a larger amount of that fish it use dot eat which throws off the ecosystem balance? Or is the predator of that seal now hungry and forced to eat something else which means less for that usual for that prey's usual predator etc. The scenarios all domino-like goes on and on.
~Rebecca
Gabriella Pacht
Over the course of our trip to New York City I found many things that held wonder and a chance to learn. They run from the Halls of Peoples to the Hall of Earth, and tons in between.
Each of the Halls of Peoples held the same focus for each culture, life, and yet every group has a different approach to that. The Pacific people were the most interesting to me there was a lot of “magic” in their lives, more then most peoples. This is one thing I would like to learn more about. How did sorcery effect their lives, why was it so important? Another point that I found interning about the Pacific peoples was the vast area they covered, different groups of them were separated by ocean, but much of their lives were surprisingly similar.
Despite not finding fossils that interesting I enjoyed seeing the transitions in them. The set up of the exhibit made a clear point of how they were in some ways connected. Oh, the best part of the dinosaurs was the turtles, namely the huge one on the ceiling. Just think turtle are still here and although they do not get that big, some remain sizable. What made them different enough to survive?
So we move on to the Hall of Oceans. What a wonderful space. It has such a vast array of exhibits, from algae eating fish to giant squid. I would like to learn more about the ancient oceans, how they changed. One thing that is flabbergasting is how much we know about planets out side our own compared to the little we really know about the oceans on our planet. We spend a lot of money on (failing…) project to space and less and less on ones to the oceans. It is sad how little we have learned about the water that makes all of this possible.
I would have enjoyed taking more time it the Hall of Earth. This room put a lot of the “inner” work of the Earth into prospective. There are so many models on volcanoes, earthquakes and plate tectonics. It is odd how we feel so big and important, and yet when we really look there are many things in the world that are bigger and well, more important then we are. Things that we do not control, things that truly make the world and are selves the way they are.
I like visiting zoos that show a real effort to provide useful information to people about the animals; zoos that do not just have the animals they for show. A place where they can tell you why the animal is there, and show a how they work to help protect the species that they “house.” The Bronx’s Zoo is defiantly on that list. In addition the dynamic of the location, right in the middle of the city, set an interesting feel. You can look to one side and see a, say lion exhibit and then to the other side and see trees then buildings. The wild in the middle of a domesticated area. Almost a yin yang concept.
As always I enjoy seeing how people act in museums and zoos. People whom ooh and ah over the exhibit and then move on, to people who sit and sketch, people who read some of the information on the display to people who read the whole thing. No matter how long you look at something a part of it will leave with you, who will learn just enough or a lot to set in motion a new area of thought. And every little bit count in changing the way we view our part in the play of the world.
I think my favorite part of the trip was going to the Bronx Zoo, I enjoyed the Museum however, and many of the exhibits just weren’t quite as captivating as I had thought they would be. The dioramas were quite interesting; I especially enjoyed the detailed paintings on the walls of the exhibit. To he honest they reminded me of the house I grew up in. We had a large mural of a vista of the flats in the Florida Keys and the ceiling was painted with a blue sky and clouds complete with sea gulls and flamingos. Just as an aside note: my mom is an excellent painter.
When we went to the zoo I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it very much as I sort of associate zoos as teeming with small creaming children. The cold cloudy weather seemed to keep them away though; I am really surprised that it was that empty. However childish I may have thought the zoo was before, I recant now. I was just as blown away at the diversity and beauty of life on display, as I was when I did ten years ago. I’m glad I went on this trip, I was seriously considering just giving it a skip and I think I would have really missed out.
As I was walking around the zoo I remember talking to Kate and her telling me about how she was worried that her kid would take for granted that many of the animals in the zoo were so endangered. Like what do you mean they are rare? Look there all in the zoo, how could they possibly be endangered?
It made me stop and think, are the animals better off having animals go extinct or preserving a small “nucleus” of a species alive in a controlled artificial environment solely for our enjoyment? It seems hypocritical to me that the people who say they are proponents of “saving” wildlife also profit by breeding in captivity and displaying these creations. It seems to me that zoos would not be necessary if “we” (we as in the human race) would take some responsibility for our actions and started to preserve the environment rather than recklessly consuming all land available to us. The victims are then compiled in living museums for the enjoyment of the children of the very people that put these animals on the endangered species list in the first place. I admit that I enjoyed the experience as much as anyone, however I see the experience for what it is a for profit organization, making money by displaying animals that would be better left in peace in there natural environment.
Now I know what you may be thinking, why is it bad to preserve species that would otherwise go extinct? I am not arguing that that is in-fact bad. I am however saying that this preservation should take place in the creatures natural habitat rather than a 10 x 10 glass box with a few plastic palm trees to make it pretty for the tourists I question the morality of zoos in general, call me crazy, or whatever you like…It just seems crazy that the so called charities of my time are out to make a profit just as much as they purport to want to help. Well enough of that rant, just a little food for thought.
cac
The trip we experienced was certainly memorable. From the museum to the zoo, there was always something new and interesting. Even though I have been to the museum many times, it felt like I was there for the first time once again. I had been to the Bronx Zoo once before. In comparison to all the zoos I have visited in the past, the Bronx Zoo is one of my favorites. The place is extremely clean, especially for New York City. All the animals seemed to be pretty well kept. The two hour long movie we saw totally slaughtered the ten page children’s story it was based on. After eating some ridiculously over-priced chili dogs, two hours never seemed so long.
One of my favorite parts of the trip had to be the sea lions. The tricks they could do were absolutely outstanding. I didn’t know that sea lions were so intelligent. I saw one do a Mr. Freeze ten feet up on a rock, shortly followed by a dive into the water. I had never actually seen a sea lion play with a ball either. They were able to come out of the water and throw the ball back at the instructor in return for three cold slimy fish. The little pups were funny, they tried to get on rocks and bark like the other sea lions. Despite their best efforts, getting on the smallest surfacing rock was certainly a challenge and the most they could muster for a growl was somewhere between a squeaky toy and a coughing child. Not to mention, after the instructors left, the sea lions were plenty loud enough to drown out the weak calls of the pups.
Watching the lemurs bound from tree to tree and fight each other was certainly exhilarating. There was a turtle on the ground absolutely oblivious to the duel above its head. It was more focused on the branch that lay across his path. Both the turtle and I knew of the long treacherous journey ahead if it still thought the reason for getting to the other side was worth it. I watched a lemur run up a thin tall tree and out of sight. When I got close enough to the exhibit to see the top of the tree, the lemur was gone. I looked around the rafters to see if it got on the ceiling. Still nothing. I then leaned so far into the exhibit that I may have actually been a potential threat for the turtle, I finally caught glimpse of a ringed tail. The lemur was situated on the inverted grates right above me. It was just hopping around the grate almost entirely upside down. Although it seemed like it was trying to get out, it shortly gave up and bounded back down the tree to play with the others.
The Wild Things was pretty long and borderline depressing. Who knew such a short and simple children’s story could be stretched into something so long. I expected something more adventurous and creative. The land of the Wild Things was supposed to be not magical or anything but a totally different place. The woods where the Wild Things lived mustered a familiar feeling, much like the one I get when I step out into my backyard to take out the compost. Perhaps some people liked the movie. I have reason to believe, that I did not. I saw many things at the museum that I had seen before.
I found all of the dinosaur skeletons to be really interesting, and the dioramas were so real it felt like you could just fall into the exhibit. Being able to experience it with the whole class was also great. Every time I’d been to the museum before then, I was with family and had do deal with my sorry excuse of a brother who always wanted mom to be around. I wouldn’t be able to just go around like the Zoobot class. I liked spending as much time as I wanted looking at something and I was able to skip right ahead if I thought something was boring.
I thought the Zoobot trip was excellent and well worth sixty-four dollars. Being able to experience it all with everyone else made it far better. I feel like I learned a lot and now I want to go back so that I can see everything we missed. Thank you Mr. Engler.
I had a fabulous time with you all in NYC and want to give a great big THANKS to Mr. Engler & to all the rest of you for including me in this fine excursion. A special thanks, too, for your kindness and patience with my daughter in all her 8-year-old-girl glory.
Like Mr. Engler I, too, spent time at the museum as a child. Unlike him I was fascinated by the dioramas, particularly the ones that gave glimpses of the mysterious profusion of life beneath the river's surface and within the soil. My daughter was drawn to exactly these exhibits as we passed through, and I had a wonderful sense of life's continuum: environment and genetics expressing themselves in one rapt moment of nose meeting glass.
The museum has changed. There used to be a coffee shop under the whale. I'm glad it's gone. I prefer my daughter to sprawl under the enormity in awe than to sit consuming crumpets.
What the Natural History Museum cannot fail to communicate is the incredible diversity of life. The sheer number of species that have lived and died out on this planet boggles my mind. I am giddy at the thought of the sheer luck of it all- the earth's distance from the sun, the rolling of genetic dice, the generations of ancestors who toiled and loved and didn't die from disease or accident so that I could do the same.
TBC if life permits.~Ms O.
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