Frogs, lizards and the critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insect will get a brief moment in the spotlight during Melbourne Museum’s newest exhibition.
Staged as part of National Science Week, the museum will display the critters rarely seen by the public.
Science On Show is returning to Melbourne Museum for the first time since 2019. Credit:Simon Schluter
“What we bring up for Science Week are animals that people don’t really get to see in front of house,” Life Exhibits manager Maik Fiedel said on Friday.
“We will be displaying living creatures…animals that are not on constant display or permanent display.”
The animals on display will include geckos, frogs, small lizards and the critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insect.
“There’s actually nowhere in the world where they are on display,” Fiedel said of the rare stick insect, which was considered extinct until the species was rediscovered in 2001 on a volcanic outcrop, 23 kilometres off Lord Howe Island.
A central knob-tailed gecko is part of the museum’s collection. Credit:Simon Schluter
Melbourne Zoo houses the main breeding population of Lord Howe Island stick insects, but the museum also breeds and maintains the species, he said.
The animals are all part of the museum’s collection and conservation efforts but are rarely on public display.
“We use the opportunity to actually bring other things out, which we can talk about and draw attention to,” Fiedel said.
Fiedel will speak about the live exhibits for Science on Show program, which will also feature other scientists from the Museums Victoria Research Institute talking about birds, mammals, marine biology, herpetology, entomology and mineralogy.
“It’s everything across the whole science department,” he said of the program.
Myah McLennan with a leaf-tailed gecko. Credit:Simon Schluter
This exhibit will be free at the museum.
It will be the first time the National Science Week program will return to Melbourne Museum and Scienceworks since 2019.
Exhibits aim to cater for a variety of ages with other sessions focused on bogong moths, tours about rocks and crystals to reveal the history of the plant and a multi-sensory experience inspired by First People’s knowledge.
The programs will run from August 13 to 21.
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