Here is one of the most significant museums in London.
Natural History Museum
The history of all living things that have ever lived on our planet comes to life here.
From dinosaurs to rhinos, spiders to giraffes.
And There’s the one inside who greets you once as you go inside.
The largest creature ever to have lived on Earth
A blue whale.
Weighs 4.5 tons
Name Hope – Hope
This female blue whale beached in 1891 near Wexford, a coastal town in southeast Ireland.
The skeleton is displayed here in the center of the museum.
The reason is significant!
Blue whales began hunting on the verge of extinction in the 20th century
but it was also one of the first species that people decided to save on a global scale.
In 1966, it was protected by the International Whaling Commission, and some populations of the species began to recover slowly.
And since then it has become a symbol of hope;
That’s why The Museum has named the female blue whale Hope, as a symbol of humanity’s power to shape a sustainable future.
This skeleton, placed in the centre of the Museum, is a symbol of hope – a public reminder that Earth’s rich biodiversity may be at risk, but it is within our power to protect it.
According to a museum press release; The Blue Whale as a centerpiece tells a hopeful story about our ability to create a sustainable future for ourselves and other species, “Humans were responsible for both pushing the Blue Whale to the brink of extinction but also responsible for its protection and recovery. We hope that this remarkable story about the Blue Whale will be told by parents and grandparents to their children for many years to come, inspiring people to think differently about the natural world.”
The management of the museum wants this story to be told to children by conscious parents for many years and to inspire people to think differently about the natural world.
Every time we look at her, she whispers to us the power of what we can do.
It is possible to create a sustainable future for our planet – if we really want to.
Eda
Resources
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/bluewhale/hall/symbol-of-hope/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40582046
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2017/july/museum-unveils-hope-the-blue-whale-skeleton.html
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/bluewhale/ocean/why-did-it-beach
