For most of us, we spend a lot of time interacting with electronics. Whether it’s an iPad, our laptop, a desktop computer or a smartphone, we’re often connected and we use the tools to find out information about the world around us. The Museum of Nature, located right here in Ottawa, has released two new nature apps and we wanted to share with you their official release. We’ll review the apps shortly and provide a review right here on the blog but in the meantime, feel free to check them out yourself. The information is in the release below.
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The Canadian Museum of Nature has entered the world of online apps, with two new free applications, the first of their kind for the museum.
Winged Tapestries: Moths at Large presents the beauty and diversity of Canadian moths in a free application for iPad users, available through the Apple store. To date, it’s the only free moths app that exists. Part art and part science, the trilingual app (English, French and Spanish) features vivid, amazingly detailed images of 45 moths, many of which are featured in the museum’s travelling exhibition of the same name. This stunning show that debuted in 2010 is now luring visitors in New York at the American Museum of Natural History until October 2013.
Users learn some amazing facts about these colourful nocturnal insects, such as how moths see colour in the dark and the differences between a moth and a butterfly. The real eye-catchers are the full-scale, beautiful images of each species, with an accompanying distribution map, its scientific and common name and location found. All were collected by Ottawa moth enthusiast Jim des Rivières, who developed the large-format photographs that form the basis for the exhibition and the app.
The museum’s second app, Nature Trek, offers an online tour of highlights of the museum’s nature-themed galleries and collections. Curators Judith Price and Jean-Marc Gagnon capture in snappy vignettes the gross, bizarre and the ugly (cockroaches, parasites, turkey vulture – to name a few), as well as some favourite specimens (a 19-metre Blue Whale!). From sea stars to slugs and skeletons, there is much to learn about the unique occupants of the museum’s galleries. For a few chuckles, there is even a section on bloopers.
Nature Trek will work on most smartphones and tablets. Winged Tapestries is available for iPad only. They are available through nature.ca/app.
The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada’s national museum of natural history and natural sciences. Its public exhibitions site is located at 240 McLeod Street in downtown Ottawa. For more information, visit nature.ca.
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