The Bruce Museum's
taxidermied penguin, left, beside the 3D printout of the penguin made at
MakerBot Greenwich.
(Courtesy of MakerBot / January 15, 2015)
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Move over, Shark Week. Next Tuesday, Jan. 20, is Penguin Awareness Day. There's no better place to spend it than at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, whose new science curator, Dr. Daniel Ksepka, is an enthusiastic fount of knowledge about what he called "the tuxedo-clad balls of fun."
"People love penguins because they look funny to us. They're cute, they're personable, they stand up like little people, they have that little waddle that makes them look clumsy but is really for efficiency," he said.
Ksepka is especially keen on how penguins came to be as they are. A talk he will give on the museum on Jan. 20, "March of the Fossil Penguins," will cover 60 million years of evolution of the adorable secondarily aquatic tetrapods. This program also complements the exhibit "Antarctica: Photographs by Diane Tuft."
He has written lots of serious scientific papers on the subject of penguins, with titles like "Phylogeny, histology and functional morphology of fossil penguins." But he keeps his lectures family-friendly. He talks about not just science but fun stories and facts about penguins: they like to chase butterflies, they mate for life, they are symbols of love and romance in Japan, they steal and try to pretend they don't.
"They build rock nests because they live where there is no vegetation, and they steal rocks from other penguins' nests to build their own," he said. "If they are seen doing it, they stand up and act as if they were just walking by. They'd whistle if they could."
Ksepka's talk will be accompanied by something almost as awesome as penguins: 3D printing. MakerBot Greenwich, the only branch of MakerBot in the state, will be on hand to print a 3D replica of the museum's taxidermied African penguin.
Several weeks ago, the museum's penguin was scanned in — it got a "3D selfie" —- at MakerBot. MakerBot used the penguin scan to create many small penguin replicas and one that is life-sized. Another small replica will be printed at the Penguin Awareness Day event, and the life-sized one will be displayed alongside the real penguin.
Jon Lavallee and Lisa Grant of MakerBot will discuss 3D printing and its various applications: to educators, architects, tinkerers, those with special needs and people who just want to have fun. "It's all about how people can see 3D printing as part of their life. It's not science fiction," Grant said.
Kspeka said fans of penguins also can go to the Bruce Museum's Facebook page (a post from Nov. 12, 2014) and vote on a name for the museum's penguin. Votes can be cast up until Penguin Awareness Day. "You can suggest a name or like one that has already been suggested," he said.
PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY will be on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bruce Museum, One Museum Drive in Greenwich. The program complements the exhibit "Antarctica: Photographs by Diane Tuft." Admission is $15, free to members. All participants will receive a coupon for a free 3D selfie from MakerBot Greenwich, 72 Greenwich Ave. Reservations: 203-413-6757 or info@brucemuseum.org.
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