February 12 is Darwin Day. To celebrate his birthday and the evolution of life, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum has hosted its annual Bake a Cake for Darwin Contest, as part of FestEVOLVE 2013.
On Friday, February 8, 2013, community members brought in decorated cake for the first place title and bragging rights. One of our museum interpreters, Tanis Gieselman, wrote an ode to go along with her cake entry:
An Ode to Vestigial Hip Bones
All day I look up at thee
Hanging up in the Beaty
It’s so nice that you are there
Hanging up in the mid-air
Suspended, and so captivating
When my audience is waiting
Pins and needles for the sound
Of why these bones are back there found
They tell the tale of long ago
A whale’s relation to hippos
Their ancient and ancestral lines
Were surprisingly intertwined
Whales are mammals, much like man
And long ago they lived on land
They had four legs and liked to walk
All over the land and rock
When the whale returned to sea
It lost everything below the knee
The remaining bones got much much smaller
To make whales streamlined in the water
That is why the bones today
Hang so unattached this way
These bones help teach the kids to see
That whales are related to me
Oh pelvic bones, you’re my solution
For celebrating Evolution!
For more pictures from the Bake a Cake for Darwin Contest, visit our Flickr page.
Dr. Greg Bole as Young Charles Darwin
Want to get in the fun? Dr. Greg Bole from UBC’s Department of Zoology will appear in costume and in character, portraying a young Charles Darwin for a presentation at Science World tonight at 7:30pm.
Happy 204th birthday, Charles Darwin!