National Geographic Museum Blog

Follow this link to see which celebrities are supporting the National Geographic Cause an Uproar Campaign.

http://youtu.be/RfLJyxl6qVQ

Experience some of the slimiest, stinkiest and downright yuckiest creatures on Earth in this interactive exhibition combining solid science with disgusting fun. You may think leeches are pretty gross but they’re used after some surgeries to assist in the healing process. Did you know that cows are one of the gassiest animals on earth? Learn why the dung beetle is nature’s living pooper scooper and why scientists are studying slug and snail slime production for clues in treating cystic fibrosis.

Teacher Preview Night
Wednesday, September 28
6–8pm
Advanced registration required
Contact Kim Kornegay at +1 202 857 7281 or kkorneg(at)ngs.org to register
Download flyer

Download the Animal Grossology Teacher Guide.

Enjoy the companion exhibition, Weird But True, based on the popular National Geographic Kids series and featuring the wackiest, weirdest, and totally true facts about the animal world.

Can you cause an Uproar? National Geographic is spearheading a campaign to encourage you to cause an uproar and take action to help save the world’s big cats!

• Donate: To help National Geographic Big Cats Initiative and raise money for field research. Learn more here.
• Dress: Like a Big Cat! And go door to door this Halloween to raise money, find more here.
• Share: The word on Facebook.
• Wear: Clothes purchased from NatGeo that support the initiative.
• Text: “BIGCATS” to 50555 to give $5 or $10 dollars in support of the initative.

Find out more here: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats/cause-an-uproar/take-action/

Animal Grossology, and the companion exhibition, Weird But True, based on wacky facts from the popular NG Kids series opens today! Children are welcome to attend and participate in this youth-focused exhibition.

You will see gross animals from around the world in a way that surprises and delights even the most fickle museum-goers. Based on the book by Sylvia Branzei, the exhibition combines solid science with disgusting fun. Visitors will experience some of the stickiest, slimiest and just downright yucky creatures of the earth. What’s not to love?

In any event, by the middle of the 7th century bce the chief Etruscan towns had been founded. Before reaching the Arno River in the north and incorporating all Tuscany in their dominion, the Etruscans embarked upon a series of conquests initially probably not coordinated but undertaken by individual cities. The pressing motive for expansion was that by the middle of this century the Greeks not only had obtained a grip on Corsica and expanded their hold on Sicily and southern Italy but also had settled on the Ligurian coast (northwestern Italy) and in southern France.

Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194586/Etruscan

Much of the actual work in Etruria was done by the native population, who were subject to, though probably not slaves of, their conquerors; the nobility of Etruscan birth formed an exclusive caste. Women had an unusually high status compared to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Etruscan wealth and power were in part based upon their knowledge of ironworking and their exploitation of iron deposits that were abundant in Etruria. Etruscan art , which largely consisted of sculpture in clay and metal, fresco tomb paintings, and fine pottery, had some of its origins in Greek and Eastern arts and was extremely influential on the art of the Romans. Fond of music, games, and racing, the Etruscans introduced the chariot into Italy. They were also highly religious. Seeking to impose order on nature, they established strict laws to govern the relations between people and gods. Lacking the scientific rationalism of the Greeks, they tried to prolong the lives of the dead by decorating their tombs like houses. While religion is perhaps the best-known aspect of Etruscan civilization, even it remains quite enigmatic.

The Etruscan language also presents difficulties to the scholar. It can be easily read (the alphabet is of Greek extraction, and the sound value of the signs is known), but, with the exception of only a few words, the vocabulary is not understood. Although the language seems to contain both Indo-European and non-Indo-European elements as well as traces of ancient Mediterranean tongues, it cannot be classified into any known group of languages. Etruscan is known from some 10,000 epigraphic records dating from the 7th cent. BC to the 1st cent. AD; most are brief and repetitious dedications. One of the mysteries of Etruscan civilization is why the written record is so sparse and why the Romans wrote almost nothing about the Etruscan language or its literature.

Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Etruscan_civilization.aspx

Etruscan civilization was the highest civilization in Italy before the rise of Rome. The core of the territory of the Etruscans, known as Etruria to the Latins, was northwest of the Tiber River, now in modern Tuscany and part of Umbria . The Latins called the people Etrusci or Tusci, and the Greeks called them Tyrrhenoi [whence Tyrrhenian Sea]; they called themselves Rasenna.

There are three theories that seek to explain the obscure origin of the Etruscans. Their language and culture differed markedly from that of other ancient peoples of the Italian peninsula at the time—Villanovans, Umbrians, and Picenes. As a result, many scholars long upheld the tradition of Herodotus that the Etruscans migrated to Italy from Lydia in the 12th cent. BC to escape a severe famine. Other scholars have argued that the Etruscans are an ancient people, indigenous to Italy, whose customs are merely distinct from other Italian peoples. The third theory—that the Etruscans came down from the north through the Alpine passes—has been largely discredited. Genetic studies in the early 21st cent. have shown similarities between the modern Tuscans and their cattle and people and cattle found in the Middle East.

Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Etruscan_civilization.aspx