#livingplanetbrussels

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

📸 Visitor Aicha Sefiaa and friends having a great time in our gallery Living Planet. Living Planet represents more than 850 specimens displayed on 2,000 m2 (from the blue whale 🐋 to the smallest insects 🐜), with 3D models, visual media, audio interviews and interactive, recreational and educational animations. The Earth 🦌 is swarming 🐦with life 🐢 and you 🐸 can rediscover it 🐟 through an aesthetic, family-friendly and scientific 🕷️ approach 🐛 to biodiversity 🦑 The upper floor of the gallery explains the abundance of species and habitats. The lower floor of Living Planet deals with the complex relationships these species have with one another and with their environment. Each species plays an important role and has its place in this web of life. ♻️ The gallery also explain our planet’s resilience to perturbations. But if they are too frequent and too heavy – as is the case in this climate and biodiversity crisis caused by humans – species disappear, food chains collapse and earth’s diversity declines. Explore the gallery in a marvelous 'streetview':

Explore Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen - Brussel in 3D

Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen - Brussel.

Oh, and we just created new discovery areas for 6- to 12-year-olds in the gallery: Tetrapodium and Arthropodium.👐 Animals with 4 legs and animals with 6 or more will no longer have any secrets! Through play and by observing them closely you discover their bodies, their way of life and their interactions. The two new areas make your visit to Living Planet complete! [Picture: @aicha_sefiaa]

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

The grass snake or ringed snake (Natrix natrix) owes its name to the yellow spots behind the head, that sometimes form a ring-shape around the neck. Ringed snakes are found throughout Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia. They like to stay by the water (rivers, ponds, ponds), where they can find their favorite food: small fish, frogs and other amphibians. To catch them, the ringed snake can even swim - they can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes! Hence the Latin name "natrix", which means "hydra" or water snake - like the sea monster in Greek mythology.  But don't be afraid: ringed snakes are not poisonous to humans and don't attack very often. On the contrary!

If they feel threatened, ringed snakes prefer to pull a special trick: they fall into "catalepsy" - they play dead! And they do so with dedication: they lie upside down on their backs, open their mouths, and as icing on the cake they emit a horrible smell. Not a heron, fox, badger, or bird of prey that wants a bite of that! And as soon as the danger has passed, they run away as quickly as possible. Ringed snakes can live up to 20 years, of which they spend almost half in hibernation (every year from September to March). From spring onward, the snake actively looks for a partner. The female lays an average of 20 eggs,  which hatch after two or three months. The young are immediately independent and leave the hatchery immediately to find their own food.

Natrix natrix is on the Belgian Red List and is protected on a European level. She stands far from the dangerous image we often have of snakes: she's discreet and prefers to hide from humans. But soon you will be able to meet her in the brand new Gallery “Living Planet”!

In the meantime, check out this incredible 3D-model of the grass snake’s skull !

Grass Snake Skull Anatomy by Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences on Sketchfab

Thanks @biodivlibrary for yet another wonderful drawing!

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

Many people have really sensitive noses 👃but try telling that to a Giant Anteater! Yup, #NatureistheGreatestShow

The Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) lives in the swamps, forests and savannas of Central and South America. It survives thanks to… the tip of its nose on the 45 cm long pointed snout 🤥 A Giant Anteater's sense of smell is 40 times more powerful than ours. It allows this mammal to localize ant and termite nests. 🐜 🐜 🐜

It catches the insects in their corridors by stirring its long sticky tongue 👅 (61 cm!) back and forth (150 times per minute!). Toothless, it crushes the food on its palate and gastric contractions do the rest.

The giant anteater finds almost 200 ant nests a day, and swallows up to 30 000 ants! But this daily meal has little nutritional value. 🍽️

That’s why the Giant Anteater has a slow metabolism and a very low body temperature (32°C), which it keeps hardly at level. During the day, it hides in the forest to avoid heath. At night, it lies on its side, with its bushy tail pulled over the body, in a shallow cavity dug in the ground. 💤

✨ Discover the Giant Anteater and 800 other species in our brand-new gallery 'Living Planet' from September 11th! ✨ #LivingPlanetBrussels

[Foto’s: Envato, Fernando Flores, Petr Kratochvil]

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

It's #GlobalTigerDay! 🐯 Discover one soon in our new "Living Planet" Gallery: the Siberian tiger Yessie. Yessie was born 22 years ago in the Antwerp Zoo and died there at a blessed tiger age of 17. Later she was naturalised by our taxidermists, and now gets a place of honour in our new Gallery! (Photo 1) Did you know that every tiger has its "identity card" printed on its fur? 🐅 The pattern of its stripes is unique and distinguishes it from the others, a bit like our fingerprint. It is also the feline that holds the record for the longest canines, from 7.5 to 10 cm! 😁 Moreover, Siberian tigers like Yessie have a genetic trait that allows them to survive the extreme temperatures of Asia, as their winter coat allows them to withstand temperatures down to -50°C 🥶 and their summer coat is so thin that they can withstand temperatures up to 30°C! 🥵 Unfortunately, more than 90% of tigers have disappeared from the wild since 1900. But there is also good news: thanks to protection (especially against poaching) and reintroduction actions, the number of wild tigers has almost tripled since the early 2000s. The goal is to further double the wild tiger population by 2022. There are now about 3900 tigers in the wild, mainly in India 🌏 However, tigers have disappeared from much of their natural habitat and are threatened with extinction in many other areas, with poaching being the biggest threat, in addition to the destruction of their habitat and the disappearance of their natural prey.