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Author: Isa Betancourt

Summer Butterfly Guide

July 31, 2020 Isa Betancourt Entomology, Featured

Learn which butterflies to look for in our region this summer.

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The oldest natural history museum in North America. Open Fri-Su. 🎟 Timed tickets available at ansp.org

WHOOOHOOO it's #MolluskMonday! This is Echineulima

WHOOOHOOO it's #MolluskMonday! This is Echineulima robusta. Nestled among the spines of a black sea urchin are three husband-and-wife teams (the female is larger 🏋️‍♀️) of parasitic snails that have drilled through the urchin’s shell and are living off its body fluids. 😱

Calling curious kiddos! Grab your favorite plastic

Calling curious kiddos! Grab your favorite plastic dinosaur, stuffed animal or toy bug and join us for a playful preschool party! Each week will feature new stories, new hands-on activities to try at home and room to move and explore.

Wednesdays, 10–10:45 a.m.
February 3-March 10
Ages 3 to 6
Zoom
$20 child/$15 member child per date; sign up for a full 6-week session for $10 off

Register at ansp.org, link in bio to save your spot and get all the details!

Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw dinosaur

Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw dinosaurs? 🦕 🦖 Here’s your chance! Details below and link in bio to register!

Studio Drafts: Drawing Dinos
Tuesdays, February 2, 9, 16 and 23
8–9 p.m., Zoom

Whether you are a beginning artist, experienced sketcher or just a lover of suds and ‘saurs, you are invited to join us for a series of four dino drawing opportunities led by renowned local paleo-artist Jason C. Poole. All you need is a piece of paper, pencil and a beer (paper and pencil optional). Jason will take you through the basics of fleshing out the world’s most iconic dinosaurs while sharing real facts behind their discovery and eventual return through a dinosaur uprising. (Our lawyers say we cannot officially confirm or deny that a dinosaur uprising may or may not, but definitely will, be happening soon).

Grab your favorite drink, sharpen your pencil and join us for one or all four February sessions! Here’s what we’re sketching:

Session 1 (2/2/21) – Tyrannosaurus Rex
Session 2 (2/9/21) – Stegosaurus
Session 3 (2/16/21) – Triceratops
Session 4 (2/23/21) – Artists’ Choice!

Art by Jason C. Poole

Brrrrrrrr-nie Sanders and his mittens are welcome

Brrrrrrrr-nie Sanders and his mittens are welcome to visit our dioramas anytime.

Guess what? It's time for our first #MolluskMonday

Guess what? It's time for our first #MolluskMonday for 2021! Yes, we know we're behind, but sometimes things just happen at a snail's pace 🐌⁠
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Pictured is Graciliscala ishimotoi. This long-dead marine snail shell is home to a hermit crab. Its outer surface is covered with hydroids, and this tiny but very elegant Wentletrap snail – the white dot above the crab - is parasitic on them. ⁠
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📷: Paul Callomon/ANS

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a visionar

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a visionary leader, passionate activist and champion of the civil rights movement. Committed to civil liberty and social equity, his ideas were foundational to the environmental justice movement — a movement that has surged forward in the last two decades. The Black Lives Matter movement and nationally publicized environmental disasters that disproportionately impact Black communities are galvanizing neighborhoods, cities and states, as well as business and political leaders. ⁠
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As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 18, we are reminded of Dr. King’s 1966 protest against poor housing conditions in Chicago and his 1968 strike against unfavorable sanitation worker conditions in Memphis. Today the fight for environmental justice continues in our own city as we look to the Southwest Philadelphia neighbors impacted by the 2019 explosion of the polluting Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery and the Kensington, Fishtown and Port Richmond neighborhoods dealing with toxic lead in the soil.⁠
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At the Academy, we believe scientific research and education, conversations and actions around environmental justice are essential. On Tuesday, we conclude Environmental Justice Week, a free virtual festival celebrating the environmental justice legacy of Dr. King, with a free lecture on connecting underrepresented communities with wildlife sciences. We hope you will join us for this event, which features biologist Corina Newsome, and we encourage you to check out environmental justice resources via the link in our bio. We aim to inspire our community to take actions that address these issues and help protect the environment for everyone.⁠
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By protecting our environment, we can all take steps to support access to safe, healthy places to live and work for everyone.

Cheers 🍸! ⁠ We'd love for you to join us for

Cheers 🍸! ⁠
We'd love for you to join us for our virtual live happy hour, A Shaker of Science on Friday, January 22. Take a cruise (metaphorically – please don’t go on an actual cruise right now!) through the Sea of Cortez in the wake of John Steinbeck and some astounding seaweed collections. Reach back 10,000 years in time through the Pine Barrens to discover beautiful algal spores that paint a picture of a long past environment. Then dive down to tropical coral reefs where giant clams team up with microscopic plants to survive.⁠
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Pour a drink, sit back and find out there is a whole lot more to plants than the trees and shrubs outside your door as we toast to the oft forgotten world of seaweed and algae! Link in bio to register.

🕷️Peeping out from our burrow to tell you our

Hey Educators! 🤗 ⁠ Stay safe while learning a

Hey Educators! 🤗 ⁠
Stay safe while learning and exploring the Academy with your class! We are excited to offer new virtual classroom lessons for school students K-12. Each class is approximately 45 minutes and features live interactions with Academy educators that meet PA Academic Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Each topic has its own teacher’s guide full of supportive curriculum and activities relative to the lesson. Link in bio to explore all the topics and to register for a virtual lesson! ⁠

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