A Whale of a Tale!
Bar Harbor Whale Museum Unveils New Interactive Exhibit
Thank you all for your patronage during the 2008 season; it was our biggest year yet! And the 2009 season looks to be just as good. Please come and enjoy our educational gift shop and support our mission.
Photo courtesy of Allied Whale
As the summer progresses and throngs of people pass through our doors, we revel in the questions and inquiries about whales and seals and why they do what they do. While those questions vary from where whales go in the winter to what type of seals live here, many are about the sounds and calls marine mammals make, and as usual, we do all we can to answer them.
Perhaps you have already enjoyed the mystical calls of the humpback whale or laughed at hearing the playful squeaks and whistles of dolphins. If not, now is your chance. Thanks to a very generous grant, the Bar Harbor Whale Museum will be installing the “RAVEN” exhibit this season.
What is RAVEN? It is a fascinating sound exhibit that allows you to see what a sound wave looks like on a monitor and then make your own recording to see how you compare. This interactive exhibit was designed by Cornell University’s School of Ornithology and allows people to examine the qualities and properties of sound, how it works, and what it might look like. In addition to viewing and manipulating sound waves, you learn about the natural history of the animals you are listening to while viewing beautiful images on an accompanying monitor.
Sound is the most important sense to most marine animals and has fascinated scientists for ages. This is your opportunity to enter our recording booth, select the animal of your choice, and explore!
Certainly there is more to see at the Whale Museum if you have never been here before. You can walk beneath our 30 foot humpback skeleton, try your hand at identifying different whales, or enjoy our climate change exhibit. Perhaps you are planning a whale watch. Our museum is perfect to visit before or after your trip offshore and learn from a different vantage.