23 Jun 2011Creature Feature - Haunted Beaches: The fleet-footed Ghost CrabsIf you’ve ever walked along the many miles of beach in Western Australia, you may have seen large burrows high up on the shore, near the high tide line and beyond into the dunes. During the day you would be unlikely to find the animal responsible for these, unless you carried out some serious excavating yourself. At dusk, however, you may see the culprits emerge.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
14 Jun 2011Dangerous Sea AnimalsCheck out our curator Corey Whisson talk on ABC radio about Dangerous Sea Animals: http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2011/06/spines-stings-and-shocks.html?site=pe...Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
20 May 2011Creature Feature: The Banded Boxer ShrimpAnd in the red corner: The Banded Boxer Shrimp Stenopus hispidus (Olivier, 1811)Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
16 May 2011New Leatherback TurtleLeatherback Turtles are listed as Critically Endangered, and the largest of the sea turtles measuring up to 3m. They breed in tropical waters with some animals travelling down the coast of WA to the southern ocean to feed on jelly fish. They have a unique body structure that helps them to maintain a higher body temperature than other reptiles, allowing them to endure the cold temperatures of the southern ocean. Populations of this species are threatened due to the taking of eggs for food by humans on their nesting beaches, and are accidentally caught as bycatch in commercial fisheries.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
20 Apr 2011Creature Feature: Glauert’s Land SnailGlauert’s Land Snail - Bothriembryon glauerti Iredale, 1939 (Family Bulimulidae) Among the many species of the native land snail genus Bothriembryon in the southern areas of Western Australia, this species is distinguished by its relatively large size (shell length about 30 mm) and by the colouring of its periostracum - a glossy greenish brown with irregular darker stripes. The periostracum is the horny outer layer of the shell that covers the calcareous layers laid down on its inner surface as the snail grows.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
12 Apr 2011Creature Feature: Coral CrabsThe Armoured Defenders Squad: Coral CrabsRead more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
21 Mar 2011Accidental Monsters of Meaning - coming to PerthAimee Smith transforms the Western Australian Museum into a living environment of dancing bodies. This trailer has been produced to give a taster her upcoming exhibition.Accidental Monsters of Meaning is showing at the Western Australian Museum – Perth from 25 March to 3 April 2011, 10am to 2pm weekdays and 12pm – 4pm on weekends.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
8 Mar 2011Creature Feature: Tadpole ShrimpJust add water: Tadpole shrimp Triops australiensis (Spencer & Hall, 1895)Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
8 Mar 2011Education: Museum StyleThe school year is well and truly underway! So as you power through the first weeks of this super-sized term, remember that the Education Teams at all our Museum sites have been working through the summer to provide schools with fantastic excursion options for 2011. Our facilitated education programs cover a broad range of topics including Palaeontology, Biodiversity, WA History and Aboriginal Culture. The programs are designed and conducted by our Education Officers, who are trained teachers, with a focus on hands-on activities using exciting Museum objects.Read more Blog entry Brad Kurger
4 Mar 2011Exploring the Shipwrecks of WA – OnlineRecently, we just redeveloped our online Maritime Archaeology Databases to ensure that the ANCODS collection* was integrated into our online database. * ANCODS is an acronym for the Agreement between Australia and the Netherlands Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks. In March 2011 the last of the artefacts were gifted from the Netherlands to the Western Australian Museum which consolidated the entire collection.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum