The Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s newest exhibition, The Lion’s Mane: Science in the Serengeti, opens on July 16 and runs through September 25. With mounts and models, interactive displays, video footage and touchable objects, visitors of all ages will learn more about the “King of Beasts” and discover how scientists work to better understand our world.
Why do male lions have manes? Do manes offer protection from injury or are they signs of power and fitness? Visitors to The Lion’s Mane will learn how University of Minnesota researchers Drs. Craig Packer and Peyton West answered these and other questions. For example, to help visitors appreciate the nature of fieldwork, the exhibition has a “Land Rover Research Station,” which showcases a replica of the scientists’ mobile laboratory, including the Global Positioning System units used to track lions across East Africa. The lifelike model lion specially designed for Packer and West’s experiment is another highlight.
By interchanging the dummy’s manes, they discovered that manes play a role in mate selection: female lions prefer males with long, dark manes, while other males fear them.
A variety of interactive activities reflect Packer and West’s findings as they encourage guests to think scientifically. For instance, the “Mane Grading Game” presents the results of the study in a fun, hands-on way, while a “Wound Identification Game” explains how Packer and West’s work refuted an earlier theory suggesting that manes protected fighting lions.
Another game challenges visitors to identify individual lions using photographs of whisker patterns, a common procedure for researchers in the Serengeti. This family-friendly exhibition includes a touchable lion’s skull, teeth, claws, and other artifacts. For the youngest visitors, the Museum is planning a lion mask activity and a treasure hunt, along with a lion puppet activity available on the Museum’s website, www.cmnh.org. Wildlife mounts from the Museum’s permanent collections will also be on display.
Another aspect of The Lion’s Mane focuses on the final component of Packer and West’s research: the unusual maneless lions of Tsavo, a hot dry region in Kenya. The section shows how West used a thermal camera to discover that lions with darker manes had a higher body temperature, thus proving the mane is a signal of overall fitness. A mount and footage from National Geographic enhance this display. To place Packer and West’s work in a broader context, visitors can peruse several interesting panels on lion behavior and pride life. A concluding panel compares Packer and West’s findings with data from The Serengeti Lion Project, which has kept tabs on individual lions and lion prides for over 30 years.
The Lion’s Mane was developed by the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota.
The Lion’s Mane exhibition is included in the Museum’s general admissions fees: $7 for adults; $5 for children ages 7-18,college students with ID, and seniors; $4 for children ages 3-6; and children 2 and under are free. Members are always free.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is located at 1 Wade Oval, University Circle, Cleveland, OH, 15 minutes east of downtown Cleveland. This Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For more information, please call the Museum at 216-231-4600 or 800-317-9155.
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My Ohio Travel
Robert Ward is author of www.myohiotravel.com
