Canadian Museum of Nature
240 McLeod Street K2P 2R1 Ottawa, ON, Canada

How can you tell if information is trustworthy? Which obstacles stand between us and our quest for truth? To figure it out, we must rely on our science culture ...and sharpen our critical thinking skills. Here’s a practical guide that will help you get informed and give you tips to avoid certain pitfalls. . Presented in partnership with Observatoiremag #ScienceCulture #ScientificCulture #CriticalThinking #ScienceLiteracy #CdnSci

Rare earth elements? Volcanoes? Minerals of Mont-Saint-Hilaire? Mineralogist Paula Piilonen, Ph.D, will be on our Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories tomorrow (March 31) from 11am-2pm EST, ready to answer all your questions #AMA style! . .... #womeninSTEM #lovescience #STEM #natureathome See more

Wow! Check out this great shot! Every week, we will be featuring amazing photos tagged with @MuseumofNature, and the next one could be yours! Show us your shots of the mammoths, our glowing moon, or you and your family out enjoying nature. Remember, you've got to share on your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and tag @MuseumofNature to enter your photos!... . . . Vaishali Jaiswal See more

Local artist @marlymcgbart got creative, and painted this gorgeous piece highlighting the architecture of the museum! Check it out! Tag @museumofnature in your museum or nature art, and we just might reach out to you! . .... . #localart #supportlocal #ottawa #architecture #myottawa See more

Calicioids are a diverse group of lichens and fungi that thrive in highly specialized microhabitats. Many are restricted to old- growth forests, like certain areas of southern Québec that remain untouched by the timber industry. Join Philip Bell-Doyon and Troy McMullin as they pull back the curtain on these tiny, pin-like organisms.

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Only 3 weeks left to visit Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages. Don't get frozen out and miss your chance to see it! It's been a sell-out every weekend, make sure to get your tickets online well in advance to avoid disappointment! https://nature.ca/planetice/

Congratulations to the Nature Inspiration Awards 2020 winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award! Father Charles Brandt was an exceptional human being, teacher, mentor, environmentalist, and role model who devoted his life to protecting and preserving natural habitats. He inspired generations of volunteers to work together to protect and preserve forests and rivers. #LifetimeAchievementAward

This interesting-looking specimen, with divergent, bladed crystals, is schizolite (the black spots are the mineral aegirine). It was collected in 1981 in the mineral-rich locality of Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec. Schizolite has an interesting history. It was described as a species in 1901, unofficially discredited as one in 1955 (assumed to be serandite or pectolite), and then eventually reinstated as a species, thanks to analyses by Canadian Museum of Nature mineralogists Joel Grice, Ph.D., and Aaron Lussier, Ph.D.

Want to speed in for a quick visit? Check out our end-of-day free hour! Free general admission tickets are released at nature.ca/tickets every Monday for the *whole week* and must be booked IN ADVANCE. They're limited, mark your calendars so you don't miss out! Thanks to Canada Life Co for sponsoring our free hours, and allowing even more people to access our world-class collections.

"When Paul Sokoloff, now a botanist at the Canadian Museum of Nature and a member of Inclusion in Northern Research, was growing up, he wondered what his professional path would look like, and whether he would feel comfortable being his full self at work. I don’t really know if I knew of any openly queer Arctic researchers when I was getting into it, he says of his career. Up until fairly recently, our cultural depictions of scientists have been mostly old white men in l...ab coats, Sokoloff told ArcticToday. And especially in polar research old straight men stoically staring off into the horizon. Representation matters, he said. Not only representation of queer folks in Arctic research and Antarctic research, but also general awareness that we’re here it’s really cool. #PolarPride #lgbtqia #lgbtqpride #arctic

Add your unique snowflake to a beautiful blizzard! Create your own virtual snowflake, then share it on social (tagging @MuseumofNature) to have your snowflake included in our online gallery!

Ever wondered why you can't touch all the cool stuff in a museum? How the animals look so lifelike after decades in a diorama? Or what that "fishy" smell is in the Water Gallery? It's Ask A Conservator Day, and our conservators are ready for all your questions! Drop questions in the comments below, or in the questions box on our Stories. Then check out our Instagram and Facebook Stories where we'll be answering them all day long!

A treasure trove of bugs and trees, books for kids, and biographies! Check out all those books! We have a wide range of curated books available in our Boutique for all your holiday gifting needs. **Shopping at the Boutique does not require a ticket, but all guests will need to check in with our staff on arrival and will be allowed access as capacity limits permit.** #bookshelf #Museum30

Congratulations to all the 2020 Nature Inspiration Awards Finalists! We received some incredible nominations this year for passionate people dedicated to changing the planet for the better, and we're excited for the winners to be announced on November 25th! Meet the Small Non-Profit and Large Non-Profit finalists in this video!

This episode of Virtual Open House is getting tiny. Single-celled algae tiny. Diatoms produce the oxygen we breathe, feed the oceans and rivers, and they can tell us a lot about water ecosystems. These amazing microalgae have silica shells and vary in size and shape. Learn more from diatom researcher Paul Hamilton and see amazing footage from the documentary series One Strange Rock.

This is Macoun's Shining Moss (Neomacounia nitida). Surprisingly, the only two instances in which this moss species was collected were in 1862 and 1864 by the renowned naturalist and botanist, John Macoun. It was found near his hometown of Belleville, Ontario, and never seen again! For now, the species is considered extinct. Learn more:

Lichens are unique organisms that are widespread in the Arctic. From stabilizing soil to providing a food source for caribou to helping camouflage birds and insects, lichens have a number of ecological functions. Learn more from lichenologist Troy McMullin, and get a glimpse of the museum's herbarium, which holds more than 150 000 lichen collections.

Want to speed in for a quick visit? Check out our end-of-day free hour! Thanks to Canada Life for sponsoring our free hours, and allowing even more people to access our world-class collections. Free general admission tickets are released at nature.ca/tickets every Monday for the *whole week* and must be booked IN ADVANCE. They're limited, mark your calendars so you don't miss out!

Climate change is causing extreme weather conditions, and we can feel the effects all around us. Sophia Mathur, a local leader of the Fridays for Future youth climate-action movement in Canada, is featured in Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages and was also a winner of our Nature Inspiration Awards in 2019. Check out this video about Sophie and her climate action work!

Travel to the High Arctic with senior botany research assistant Paul Sokoloff. Discover how delicate Arctic plants are collected from the Arctic terrain and preserved in the National Herbarium of Canadaa huge plant library.

Take a journey back in time and explore the power of ice and cold in shaping the world we live in today. Produced by the Canadian Museum of Nature, this world-premiere exhibition features more than 120 real specimens, amazing models and artifacts. Through engaging exhibits, multimedia and some "magical" moments, explore some of these mysteries and reflect upon how humans are part of the problem, and part of the solution.

Climate change is causing extreme weather conditions, and we can feel the effects all around us. Learn about the Ice Age we live in and the impacts of climate change in Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages. nature.ca/planetice

Go behind the scenes in the National Herbarium of Canada. This huge plant library safeguards over one million plant specimens in three rooms at the museum's research and collections facility. There, you'll see preserved specimens of trees, ferns, wildflowers mosses, lichens and algae.

What has four hearts, no jaw, but plenty of slime? Meet the hagfish! This wriggly, eel-like creature of the ocean depths feeds on decaying animals, providing quite a clean-up service! That's not all, its superpower lies in its ability to produce slime, and LOTS of it (check out this video from Ocean Wise ). The thick, gooey substance protects it against looming predators, who just get a mouthful of slime! During this spooky month, let's embrace weird. What's your favorite biz...arre creature? #HagFishDay #WeirdandWonderful

Have you taken a #selfie (or an #Elkfie?) with our Irish Elk (Megaloceros giganteus)? Get up close and personal with these 3.5m wide antlers, the largest to have ever existed! On display now in Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages. https://nature.ca/planetice/

New series! Each year, thousands attend the open house of our national research and collections facility in Gatineau, Quebec. They chat with our experts, see our labs and marvel at the vast collections 14.6 specimens and artifacts - that document the natural diversity of Canada and the world. This year we’ve gone virtual, starting with a tour of the facility by Dr. Jeff Saarela. Each Wednesday and Sunday, we’ll share more stories showing off the plants, animals, fossils and minerals in our national collections, as told by the people who study, curate and learn from them. Enjoy!