Nature

   The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is just a couple blocks from our house in Albuquerque.  I go there often on Wednesdays as admission is free then for old guys.  There is quite a variety of exhibits and programs including a celestial observatory.  I always stop by the windowed workshop where the preparators are patiently chipping away rock to reveal the fossilized remains of ancient creatures. 

Another favorite stop is the room devoted to small native animals including live snakes, fish,spiders,and turtles, some of which can be handled by visitors with the help of museum volunteers.

Cate and a beaver

    For several months a sign on the door says that the live animal facility is "temporarily closed".  The room lights are off, but it appears the animal exhibits are being maintained.  I suspect the delay in reopening the live animal exhibit is due to the need to devote a large amount of resources to a new chronologically organized exhibit of fossils found in New Mexico.  Also, the biologist who oversaw the live exhibit retired some time ago and has not been replaced.

    All of the above suggests to me that there is a need to review the priorities of the State-owned institution.  The space devoted to fossils, geology and space exploration dwarfs the size of the exhibit of present day animal life, which to me really seems a more important educational component of natural history. The emphasis on exhibits featuring dinosaurs very likely is important in attracting children and their parents to the museum, but the overwhelming space devoted to that subject may have less to do with educational value and more to do with commercially based values in our society. That idea was suggested to me recently by an article in The Guardian by Isabel Losada, Enough with unicorns and dinosaurs – show children the magic of real, living animals instead.