Eat me, if you can!

La nature rêvée de Catherine Bouyx
Illustrations, entre sciences et art
Jangala, au cœur de la jungle indienne
Tous les bébés
Mange-moi, si tu peux !
Littoral aquitain
La nature vue par les Hommes
From
to
Pending
Exhibition type
Semi-permanent
Target audience
General public
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The semi-permanent exhibition Eat me if you can! of the Museum of natural history of Bordeaux – science and nature. The beech marten is an opportunistic carnivore.
The Museum of natural history of Bordeaux – science and nature presente his semi-permanent exhibition called Eat me if you can! and his kingfishers
The semi-permanent exhibition Eat me if you can! et his flamingo which filter its food. You can discover this area at the first floor of the Museum of natural history of Bordeaux – science and nature.
The semi-permanent exhibition Eat me if you can ! of the Museum of natural history – science and nature show specimen of its large stuffed animals. This exhibition spotlight different ways of eat and different food of specimen show into windows.
The Museum of natural history of Bordeaux – science and nature presente his semi-permanent exhibition called Eat me if you can! and his kingfishers
The semi-permanent exhibition Eat me if you can ! of the Museum of natural history – science and nature show specimen of its large stuffed animals. This exhibition spotlight different ways of eat and different food of specimen show into windows.

Every animal needs to eat. Food supplies energy to grow, move and reproduce. Nutritional needs are met by a whole range of different feeding systems, diets and digestive processes.

Rather than dividing up species into herbivores, carnivores and omnivores, in 1928 Sir Charles Maurice Yonge suggested making a distinction between species based on whether they have a solid or liquid diet, were mobile or inert, or were small or large (in relation to the size of the consumer).

This very subjective method shows the often arbitrary limitations of classification. It does, however, offer an alternative perspective which the Museum of Bordeaux has chosen to present. Stuffed specimens, jaws and teeth, to-scale and vastly enlarged models as well as photos showing animals in the process of feeding alongside original scientific drawings depicting details of organs and how they function.

While certain animals feed on liquids or through a filtering structure, others consume large species. Among these, some animals look for stationary food while others extract nutritious elements from sediment. As for humankind and certain other species, they capture, tear up and devour their prey. This food acquisition strategy is common for us, but is relatively rare in the animal world in the sense that most predators devour their prey directly. Chewing before swallowing prepares the food for digestion. Only a few species possess teeth. These species feature exclusively among jawed vertebrates. In one part of the room, two large displays present teeth and jaws which illustrate the diversity of the forms and growth processes of these bodily structures.

A multimedia terminal has games to understand this classification method and how this gallery in the museum is organised. There are also objects on display as a nod to how animals have adapted to feed themselves: a syringe for the piercing stylus of the common mosquito; a hand brush for the baleen of Greenland whales, and pincers representing the mouth of turtles.

The semi-permanent exhibition Eat me if you can! casts a light on an alternative method for classifying animal species.