Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 24, 1998
2
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Swarm of money revamps beehive
Luke McCarvel,
Topeka resident,
and his step-grandfather, Dan Donaldson, Topeka resident, look at the bee exhibit in the Natural History Museum. The museum soon will have a remodeled bee exhibit. Photo
by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Museum to install bee run, camera inside of exhibit
By Julio M. Sachs
Kansan staff writer
Excitement is buzzing in the Natural History Museum.
The museum is in the process of remodeling its live-bee exhibit, said Thomas Swearingen, museum exhibits director.
Changes to the exhibit will include the placement of a video camera inside the hive, Swearingen said. The camera will capture activities of the bees that visitors can not normally see.
The camera cost about $1,800 and was purchased with private donations, said Brad Kemp, assistant director of public affairs at the museum.
Visitors will be able to view the camera's recordings on two television monitors that also will be added to the exhibit. Swearingen said that these monitors would greatly magnify the size of the bees and that they would enable easier viewing inside the hive.
"I think it's going to be terrific to see 50 times the life-size view,"
Kemp said. "I think it's going to increase the popularity with kids."
Now, the bee exhibit does not allow viewers to observe many of the activities in the hive because the area where the bees lay their eggs and store honey is hidden from view. Swearingen said.
Some of the featured activities that may be viewed on the monitors include the queen bee laying her eggs and the hatching of her eggs.
"People will see more activity in the new beehive than in the old hive," Swearingen said. "The old hive has been very successful, but so much activity for the bees is hidden because of the way the old hive was built."
The new beehive will be a more educational experience for visitors of all ages, Swearingen said.
Also to be remodeled is the bee run, which Swearingen said is popular with children. The run enables the bees to leave the hive to gather pollen outside.
Final costs for the entire exhibit are not yet known, Swearingen said.
Mosasaur stalks prey again at museum
The new beehive should be completed in a couple of months, Kemp said.
Prehistoric lizard was native Kansan
By Julio M. Sachs
Kansan staff writer
Diving down into the depths of the Natural History Museum rotunda, the mosasaur stalks its unlucky prey — a prehistoric fish.
Evoking many positive reactions, the 60-foot sea lizard, the largest of its kind, is expected to be a success.
"Each museum has to have a trademark in some way," said Thomas Swearingen, director of
exhibits. "I think this will be a good one."
The mosasaur was a native Kansas reptile, which makes the exhibit special for the museum.
Because of its size, the museum expects the mosasaur to draw people to other parts of the museum.
"It not only draws you into the downstairs, but it draws you into the balcony." Swearingen said.
The remains of the mosasaur were uncovered in 1911 by Charles Bunker, said Larry Martin, curator of the museum. The mosasaur bones were found in Sharon Springs near Scott City.
Completion of the mosasaur has taken about four and a half months.
Belgium is the only other place
Swearingen said working on the project was a learning experience.
"In order for me to put it together, I had to learn about the mosasaurus themselves," he said.
Learning how the creature moved was important when designing the exhibit.
Scientists and researchers had to discover how the creature appeared while diving to replicate that in the exhibit, Martin
said.
While attaching the pieces of the exhibit, Swearingen said he ran into a few problems. Making the mosaasaur seem as lifelike as possible was one of them.
"We tried to make it be realistic from every angle," Swearingen said. "If it didn't look good from one angle, it wasn't right. We had to readjust a few things a couple of times."
Although there were a few minor complications, building the mosaaur was a positive experience, he said.
"I've always wanted to do something like this," Swearingen said.
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