The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is located at the University of British Columbia. The natural history museum includes over 2 million specimens. In the atrium hangs the 26 meter skeleton of a female blue whale. The whale came from Tignish, Prince Edward Island. There is a documentary film called Big Blue which is about how the skeleton travelled 6,000 kilometers to Vancouver. Worldwide, there are only 21 blue whale skeletons available for public viewing. For more information about visiting the museum see here.
Category Archives: Plants
Happy Mother’s Day
Mason Bees
On Friday we had a visit from a retired beekeeper. He taught the class all about Mason bees which are hard working pollinators. Mason bees are gentle, solitary and they are not destructive insects. Six Mason bees can pollinate one fruit tree compared to 10,000 honey bees. Mason bees partition and seal their nesting chamber with mud. They forage in a limited range of about 100 metres. Only the female stings when she faces serious danger and her sting is similar to a mosquito bite. People of all ages are safe around these super pollinators.
Harvesting Our Potatoes
On Thursday we harvested our five tubs of potato plants. We had planted the potatoes just before Spring Break and initially they grew next to the window in our classroom. Eventually they were moved to our school garden, in the courtyard area, where we patiently watered them every day. When we turned the tubs over and emptied the soil onto our drop sheet we found nearly 200 Warba potatoes of various sizes. Each student took home a paper bag with approximately ten potatoes. Hopefully, the students will eat these delicious vegetables.