The Language of Color at HMNH

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Venue:	Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH)
In/Outdoor:	Indoor
Cost:	$
Category:	Exhibits

Whether it’s the brilliant blue wings of a butterfly, the scarlet feathers of a tanager, or the stripes of a zebra, animals display color in vastly different ways and for different reasons.

Combining dramatic specimens with video presentations, computer interactives, hands-on activities, and a stunning display of live dart frogs, The Language of Color will help visitors understand the nature of color and pattern, how different animals “see” it, and how animal color and its perception have co-evolved to produce the complex and diverse palette of colors we see in the world today.

The exhibit features a wide array of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, and insect specimens that illustrate colors used to camouflage, startle predators, mimic other animals, attract a mate, or intimidate a rival.

On exhibit through September 6, 2009.

WEBSITE

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www.hmnh.harvard.edu/special_exhibits/index.php

LOCATION

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26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 map
Phone: 617-495-3045

REVIEWS

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Interesting and kid-friendly

This is a gorgeous exhiibit. The two nine-year-olds I took got a lot out of it even though they didn't have the patience to read everything.

Live Poison Dart Frogs

Language of Color includes a terrarium of LIVE poison dart frogs. Luckily you learn that the frogs get their poison from eating toxic insects, and their diet in the museum doesn't include the poisonous insects!