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Did you know that crabs and shrimps have blue blood? How heavy a dung ball can a dung beetle roll? How can flies taste with their feet and legs? Starting from tomorrow (July 1), the Special Exhibition Hall of the Hong Kong Science Museum will be transformed into a colourful spectacle of oddities of the natural world, introducing animal habits that are both interesting and unusual. Many of these peculiarities will be demonstrated through robotic animal models and games.
The "Animal Grossology" exhibition is fascinating as well as educational. It is based on the children's book of the same title, which examines some of the animal kingdom's unpleasant characteristics and habits. Through the introduction of strange animal features such as slimy skin and a ruminant's digestive system, and habits like blood-sucking and dung-eating, it presents the fascinating but gross world of animals. These habits and phenomena, though strange and perhaps unpleasant to humans, give us clues about how animals fight for survival.
At the exhibition, you will find creatures including flies, manure-loving dung beetles, bloodsucking mosquitos and leeches, slimy sea cucumbers and snails and more. The exhibition will demonstrate scientific facts about these intriguing animals and enable visitors to learn how they play an important role in nature.
The exhibition includes 16 interactive exhibits including "Party Pooper", which looks at strange animal eating tastes, such as animal poop; "Transfusion Confusion", which looks at the different blood colours in animals; "Chew Chew Express", which shows how cows use their four stomach chambers to digest food more effectively; "Undersea Adventure", which invites you to enter a submarine to explore some amazing marine creatures; "Slippery Slimy", which shows us how animals rely on special slimy skin for defence; and "Dung Ball Rally" which demonstrates the hard work involved in dung collecting by dung beetles.
To enhance children's enjoyment of the exhibition, the special activities "Animal Party Go Go Go!" and "Amazing Animal Fun Tour" will be held at the museum on July 1, 2 and 9, at which young participants will be able to pretend to be insects or animals for interactive theatre, or follow party leaders to play, listen to animal stories and explore the animal kingdom together. The activities will be conducted in Cantonese. For further details about activities, please visit the website of the Muse Fest HK 2016 at hk.science.museum/ms/mf2016/eintroduction.html .
The "Animal Grossology" exhibition is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, organised by the Hong Kong Science Museum, and created and produced by Advanced Animations LLC. The exhibition runs from July 1 to November 2. The Hong Kong Science Museum is located at 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. For details of the exhibition, please visit the museum's website: hk.science.museum/ms/ag2016/ or call at 2732 3232 for enquiries.
Ends/Thursday, June 30, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:15
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