IN THIS EMAIL:
 

- Discover the Canadian Museum of Nature's newest exhibit, Bug Adventure 

- Read our biweekly Wildlife Wednesday roundup featuring bowhead whales, rhinos, birds and more!
- Enjoy an excerpt from nature writer Jessica J. Lee's newest book, Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging 
- This week, we are featuring an Exodus Adventure Travels journey to discover the hidden treasures of Jordan 

Bug Adventure: The six superpowers of bugs 

The newest exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature invites visitors to experience the world from a bug’s perspective through immersive, sensory experiences

Story and photography by Kate Playfair

A creepy crawly exhibit has arrived at Ottawa’s Canadian Museum of Nature, featuring some of the Earth’s earliest residents. 
 

Bugs are some of the most dynamic creatures on the planet, fascinating many and striking fear into others. And now, visitors can delve into their intriguing world like never before.
 

“Insects are the most diverse group of anything on our planet,” says Andrew Smith, an entomologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature. “They do everything. They’re involved with every different kind of food web and ecological or any different kind of habitat at all that you can find.”

Wildlife Wednesday: could traffic control for whales help prevent ship strikes?
 

Plus: bowhead whales spending more time in Arctic waters, Toronto Zoo's newborn white rhino calf gets a name, bird brains are put to the test, and the pesky leafhopper that could help shed light on climate change

By Shriya Balachandran and Benjamin Ralph 
 

As it turns out, humans aren’t the only ones in need of traffic control.
 

The Cetacean Desk is a new four year pilot program aimed at protecting whales from colliding with sea vessels in the Salish Sea. The program intends to provide mariners with a real-time map of reported whale sightings to help  divert ships away from the cetaceans’ paths. Joe Gaydos, science director for the SeaDoc Society, a science and education nonprofit based on Orcas Island, explained to the Seattle Times that underwater noise caused by ships hinder the sonic detection whales use to map out their space and hunt for food, leading to inadvertent collisions. The collisions, although rare, are not always reported due to the lack of visual evidence. “It was very clear that that whale was T-boned by the bow of a ship, it just broke my heart,” said Joe Gaydos, when recounting the time he saw a minke whale with collision injuries.

Excerpt from Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging

Nature writer Jessica J. Lee combines memoir, history and scientific research in her newest book, exploring how plants and people come to belong 

By Jessica J. Lee 
 

(Cover design: Penguin Random House Canada; photo: Ricardo A. Rivas)

In 2011, a team of researchers uncovered a series of fossils at the Bailey Quarry near Windsor, Nova Scotia. The remnants of charred twigs were no larger than two centimetres long and surrounded with gypsum. Howard Falcon-Lang, the lead researcher, boxed them up and sent them back to London. They remained in a drawer untouched for years.
 

In 2016, these twigs took up headlines. The area they had been found in was known for deposits dating back to the Cretaceous Period, between 66 and 145 million years ago. Falcon-Lang had finally dissolved their surrounding gypsum in hydrofluoric acid and rinsed them with distilled water, releasing tiny pieces of charcoal. The pieces were examined with a scanning electron microscope and then dissected with a scalpel and examined once again. 
 

Canadian Geographic Adventures
 

Explore archaeological highlights with a knowledgeable local leader.
 

This 12-day trip to Jordan is ideal to truly appreciate all the country has to offer. It will give you enough time to take in its world-famous monuments, such as Petra and Jerash, and explore the less well-known historic and archaeological treasures. This itinerary includes visits to several of these sites, and the chance to experience the beautiful Wadi Rum desert and snorkel in the Red Sea, ensuring enough time to relax and unwind too.

• Visit desert castles, steeped in centuries of history

• Explore the ancient city of Jerash and Bethany

• Float in the Dead Sea Visit Mount Nebo, claimed to be Moses’ burial site

• Enjoy two days in Petra, the Red Rose

• City Citizen Science departures available on this trip

Get inspired!