SNAKES, spiders, ants, frogs and snails.
Specimens gathered and observed by the Murray Explored Bioscan now are counted in the hundreds – and counting.
A selection of the variety of local species gathered from the Gunbower Island forest had students mesmerised during a “pop-up” museum session at Cohuna.
Two hundred students from schools at Cohuna and Barham were escorted in groups through a number of stations manned by the Museum Victoria scientists who had gathered the species.
They were engaged and questioning and some were game enough to share close encounters with snakes and lizards.
Team leader, Dr Mark Norman said that the Bioscan history day at Kerang was “packed out” and the students’ session at Cohuna enabled scientists to share their particular expertise.
Dr Norman said that the Museum Victoria team were indebted to the Barapa Barapa and Yorta Yorta traditional owners for sharing their cultural knowledge.
The Bioscan coincides with the 160th anniversary of one of the earliest major expeditions run by Museum Victoria when it was first established in 1854.
The 1856-57 expedition was led by the museum’s first curator, William Blandowski. His team set up an initial base camp at the original Gunbower Station and worked closely with the First Peoples of the area over two months in January-February 1857.
During the scientific expedition they collected over 17,000 animal specimens.
