Night at the Royal Alberta Museum

Last weekend I (and a few thousand others) paid a last visit to the Royal Alberta Museum, in the building it has occupied since 1967. Not to worry, the museum isn't closing -- it's just relocating, to a larger (yet-to-be-completed) facility right downtown. Although I'd only visited the Royal Alberta Museum once (while I was here on an elective in September 2013 and playing tourist) I could appreciate that a lot of the crowd felt nostalgic walking through the original galleries for a final time. I mean, if the Royal BC Museum, the setting of my childhood museum adventures, were ever to close, I'd be pretty sad as well.

The Royal Alberta Museum did have some great displays. My favourites were the dioramas of Albertan wildlife -- moose, mountain goats, and the like -- which were housed before some pretty 3D-looking backdrops.

so at least I have one (stuffed) moose sighting to show for my time in Alberta

cougars -- the cubs still have cute spotted fur!

golden eagles

trumpeter swans

mountain goats -- straight outta Jasper

bison (apparently they're bison, not buffalo)

various ungulates -- don't they look so expressive?

My favourite animal being birds, I really appreciated their (super organized) Albertan birds display, as well as their array of every conceivable kind of egg.

Hedwig and co (and some photobombing gulls)

if you've ever wondered about the differences between downy, hairy, and pileated woodpeckers, here you go

flicker (I've actually seen these on Vancouver Island!)

lousy lighting, but it was the only porcupine on display (another Albertan animal I'm determined to spot in the wild)

What this museum had (and the RBCM doesn't) were live animals -- fish, snakes, insects -- which people seemed to either love or hate. I don't particularly mind creepy crawly things (like this) so found them to be pretty interesting.

giant Malaysian cicadas

bullsnake

those who don't like live bugs can peruse this huge butterfly display

some of the specimens dated back to the 1800s!

The large First Nations gallery housed a walk-through teepee, artifacts, and interesting dioramas of the bison hunt and salmon fishing, amongst other things. Having only learned about the coastal groups in school, it was interesting to read about the history of the plains people -- and familiarize myself with historical figures like Anthony Henday (whose names we see in street and building names).

First Nations diorama; spot the HBC blanket :)

there was so much detail and depth in this diorama -- the picture just doesn't do it justice

There was also a dinosaur room and a huge geology display of beautiful rocks and minerals.

Albertosaurus

one of many mineral display cases

ammolite -- a gemstone found in the Rockies, derived from fossilized ammonite shells (Alberta used to be beneath an inland sea!)

rainbow

All in all, the Royal Alberta Museum is a really great attraction that I was fortunate to experience in its original site. That being said, I'm looking forward to checking out the new location!

view from the museum grounds...I can see why they want to make the old building into the Lieutenant Governor's house :)