Graceful Movement

Swimming in another aquarium within the Water Gallery were otherworldly creatures, moon jellies, moving through the water in a way that was hypnotic, and a bit of a challenge to photograph.

Strange Sightings

This life sized model of a fish hangs overhead in the Water Gallery. It is a curious sight, called a Mola.

Another view of the blue whale skeleton.

Yet another oddity finds itself on this panel, which reminds us in the words of a quirky chaos theorist that life finds a way.

Water is not just about the sea, of course, and the Water Gallery focuses on freshwater too, including a large aquarium with a number of fish.

A terrareum here includes spotted turtles.

Rich Biodiversity

Suspended overhead is a life sized model of a porbeagle shark.

Display cases feature models of various sea life.

The true deeps of the oceans are less known to us than space.

Today I leave off with this 3D model of Barkley Canyon, off the Canadian West Coast.

The Blue Whale

The heart of the Water Gallery is the skeleton of a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. As big as it is, this isn't as big as the species gets.

This model of an ungainly looking fish can be seen in the display case at the bottom of the above shot.

Another display case features seabirds, who spend some of their time on the water.

For today I leave off with this.

A Water World

The Water Gallery is the next space inside the Museum of Nature. A series of panels examines its importance to the planet.

A series of displays ring the central exhibit inside this gallery. They include models of various whales- mammals, like ourselves. I'll show you that central exhibit tomorrow.

Hello, Beastie

Coming out of the bird gallery at the Museum of Nature, there are a series of display cases with live critters of the creepy crawly, insect and arachnid variety. Such as this.

And its distant cousin.

I headed out into the Queens Lantern. To make up for the above, here are some of the stained glass windows in this part of the museum.

And more takes on that Moon suspended in here. We'll move into another gallery space tomorrow.

But leaving off today, it's the theme day for City Daily Photo, and the theme is Shopping. You can find others interpreting this theme right here. My initial idea for the theme is not possible under current restrictions, but it occurred to me that I had an alternative, and in keeping with museums. Below are two items I've bought in the last year at museum gift shops, on my rolltop desk at home. The cup at left is from the Canadian Museum of History, and incorporates the beautiful mural Morning Star by First Nations artist Alex Janvier onto it. The second is from the Canada Museum of Science And Technology, featuring a sketch and writing of Leonardo da Vinci on it. Leonardo was the subject of a major exhibit at that museum last year.