Saturday, May 22, the practically brand new Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa will reopen. It underwent extensive renovations that dragged on for over 6 years and cost taxpayers a whopping $216 million, minus private donations the museum has received.
These renovations started long before the Conservatives started making cuts in the face of budgetary restrictions. So this museum was not forced to begin the low-fat diet facing other Canadian museums.
The museum showcases the Canadian wilderness and its new and old rooms, now larger and more modern, expose Canada’s natural wealth. This includes the largest collection of stuffed birds in the country with some specimens dating back 130 years.
There is a fossil gallery, a water exhibit, a land exhibit and an Animalium, a living gallery of crawling insects such as spiders, cockroaches and scorpions.
The Canadian Museum of Nature has a 10.6- million piece collection. It offers new exhibits on the state of nature today as it deals with climate change.