News

Celebrating Africa Month Through our Collections

Zamisa

𝗦𝗶𝘆𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗮 𝗭𝗮𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗭𝗡 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺. 𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺:

I am in charge of data management in the Department of Natural Sciences. I work with data from a variety of collections such as the Entomology (Insects), Oligochaetes (earthworms) and Mollusca (snails and slugs). These specimen are either kept as dry or wet collections and they have been preserved using these techniques for years.

Museums are looking to digitize these collections and that’s were my work comes in. I make sure the collections are digitize by either capturing data or importing data to a program used by many museums in South Africa called Specify. This is beneficial in the sense that if anything happens to the physical collections, institutions will have a digital backup and nothing will be lost.

Data in Specify must then be constantly maintained/updated, cleaned, standardized as some of it is published through data open access platforms such as GBIF, our data is also used by researchers and scholars from around the globe.

This is beneficial for a continent like ours Africa, as a 3rd world country we have a lot of challenges such as travelling to other institutions or doing field work. So data that’s is digitized can be accessed by almost everyone in the continent by simply going to data open access platforms or sending me an email, there is no need for one to travel.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠, 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑠 (𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠), 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑒𝑡𝑐. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 3𝑟𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 (4𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑤𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.

#africamonth #collections #data #digitization #kznmuseum #science #digitalworld #specify #datacapture

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

Thembeka

𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲, 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁, 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗗𝗿 𝗡𝘅𝗲𝗹𝗲, 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗶𝗹𝘀.

The project aims to record and document earthworms that are found in southern Africa.

We know that animals, in general, do not respect international borders, earthworms are not an exception. Therefore, some species may be shared between countries. So far, Botswana and Namibia have been visited and very interesting earthworms have been recorded from these countries. Zambia and Zimbabwe should be the next stop in the near future.

Given that several areas in southern Africa have not been sampled for earthworms, several new species of earthworms could be discovered in all these countries.

𝑈𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑-19 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛.

#oligacheate #research #kznmuseum #earthworms #botswana #zambia #zimbabwe #africamonth

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

bioversity day

International Day for Biological Diversity is celebrated worldwide with the aim to increase understanding and raise global awareness of issues related to the planets biodiversity. The theme for this year is “Our Solutions are in nature” meaning biodiversity can provide us with answers to some of the world’s challenging problems of our times.

The KwaZulu–Natal Museum contributes to the understanding and promotion of biodiversity issues through it various education programmes, exhibitions and ground breaking research conducted by the Natural Science Department.

#biodiversityday #kznmuseum

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

Biodiversity Day - Insects and Dead Bodies

Insects that feed on dead and decomposing bodies can be used to determine how long those bodies have been dead.

This process of using information gained from insects that can be used in legal cases is called forensic entomology. Blow flies (blue and green bottles) and flesh flies are the first insects that are attracted to dead bodies. The adult flies lay eggs on a body and the maggots that hatch, feed on the soft tissue of the body. As the body is consumed by the maggots and it continues to decompose and dry out, beetles that feed on skin and hair are attracted to the body. They complete the job of recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem. Research about the development rates of maggots, the seasonal distribution of blow flies and the effects of toxins on the development of maggots are some of the areas of focus for forensic entomologists. Research in forensic entomology in Africa is only being done in a few countries with South Africa leading the way.

𝐷𝑟 𝐾𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑑𝑎 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑤𝑎𝑍𝑢𝑙𝑢-𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑢𝑚. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.

#biodiversityday #kznmuseum #forensics #entomology #forensics #entomology

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

Subcategories

Start
Prev
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Next
End

Subcategories

Opening Times