thegreenwolf:

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jtotheizzoe:

wnycradiolab:

audiovision:

The public only gets to see a carefully curated version of the collections at natural history museums.

Hidden from view, there’s a second museum, sprawling in scope, full of character and occasionally gross.

No place is more hidden than the Whale Warehouse. Go inside in the first installment of AudioVision.

“This blue whale skull has been here since it got hit by a ship in 1985, and it’s still leaking.”

This. Is. Amazing.

You know, with the level to which we today appreciate whale and dolphin intelligence, with their capacity for language, socializing, and culture, it’s only appropriate that we study and archive them in great numbers. Think of the diversity that makes up the human species, the mosaic of forms, the spectrum of identities. Would we be happy knowing that someone classified us using only two or three samples?

I think not. Glad there are folks out there doing this work.

Very thankful I don’t have smell-o-vision, though.

This video does a good job about answering some FAQ’s about specimen collection, large mammal preparation, and other hows and whys of natural history museums! 

Clearly it’s impossible to answer all questions or address every issues about specimen prep and natural history in one video, but that’s exactly why I’ve got an entire YouTube series devoted to this kind of amazingness.  

I don’t just want to visit every museum I can. I also long for some magical power that grants me backstage tours of them, too. For every cool thing that’s one display, I have to wonder how many dozens are in the back being studied—or simply sitting in storage.

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)