Fernbank holds Creatures of Light exhibit

By Polly Ouellette From Gwinnett Daily Post

Fernbank holds Creatures of Light exhibit

Because humans generally sleep during the nighttime, we don’t get to see the animals, insects and other organisms that are illuminated in the darkness.

Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence is a traveling exhibit that will allow visitors to explore many plants and animals that are bioluminescent. The exhibit will be displayed at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History through Aug. 14.

“Organisms develop bioluminescence for a number of reasons, including communication, warning or evading predators, or luring in prey,” Becky Facer, Fernbank Museum’s Environmental Education Programs Manager, said in a statement. “Creatures of Light allows guests to see nature in a new light as they are immersed in the glow of bioluminescence.”

Attendees can explore a series of recreated environments that include larger-than-life models so that they can examine the details of these ecosystems.

Some of the displays include: a New Zealand cave where glowworms extend their sticky, web-like tendrils, the glowing water of Mosquito Bay on Puerto Rico’s Vieques island and North American forests that are full of fireflies and fluorescing mushrooms.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to learn about animals that live in the depths of the ocean and how the study of these organisms is helping make new discoveries in the field of cell biology. Underwater footage will reveal colorful animals that are relatively unknown to humans due to threats of pollution, overfishing and climate change.

Individuals and families visiting the exhibit can interact with the displays, such as a “talk to fireflies” activity, a model of a deep-sea probe and a display of the many organisms and fish found in a coral wall found in the Cayman Islands.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, special programming will take place on Saturday, April 2, during the Creatures of Light Celebration Day. Visitors can make an anglerfish hat craft, visit the glowing lichen and mineral station and more.

Admission to Creatures of Light is included with the price of Fernbank admission, which is $18 per adult, $16 per child and free for members. Fernbank Museum is located at 767 Clifton Road N.E. in Atlanta.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit fernbankmuseum.org.

IMAGES:
This oversized model represents a jack-o-lantern mushroom around 40 times the mushroom’s actual size. In one of these types of mushrooms, the honey mushroom, only the mycelia—root-like branches that run through the wood—glow with an eerie light known as foxfire. The Creatures of the Light exhibit will visit Fernbank Museum from March 26 to Aug. 14. (Special Photo)
In this re-creation of part of New Zealand’s Waitomo cave system, visitors glimpse a fantastic spectacle above their heads: sticky “fishing lines” dropped from the ceiling by glowworms—bioluminescent gnat larvae—to trap prey. The Creatures of the Light exhibit will visit Fernbank Museum from March 26 to Aug. 14. (Special Photo)
Fernbank holds Creatures of Light exhibit
This large-scale, day-and-night interactive image shows the Cayman Islands’ Bloody Bay Wall, a species-rich coral wall that is home to many bioluminescent and biofluorescent animals. Still relatively pristine, Bloody Bay Wall drops down 1,000 feet. The Creatures of Light exhibit will visit Fernbank Museum through Aug. 14. (Special Photo)
This section of the exhibition evokes an evening lit by fireflies, all signaling to one another in their species-specific “language of light.” The Creatures of the Light exhibit will visit Fernbank Museum from March 26 to Aug. 14. (Special Photo)

For more on this story go to: http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/fernbank-holds-creatures-of-light-exhibit/article_fb2104f2-bfb1-5878-b405-a25323b00245.html