Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Mark Docherty opened a new exhibit on May 14 at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) titled “Insects, Flowers and Food.”
Flowering plants and insect pollinators, mainly bees, play important roles in producing much of the food consumed by humans worldwide. Bees pollinate a large number of flowering plants – food sources that humans and other animals rely on.
Visitors to the RSM’s latest exhibit can explore the relationships between plants and pollinators from the time dinosaurs roamed Saskatchewan to the present day.
“This exhibit teaches us about the importance of bees and other insects, including those we find here in Saskatchewan,” Docherty said. “It also sheds light on the important research conducted by RSM scientists and I’m sure it will help the museum attract new and returning visitors over the summer months.”
“There are more than 230 species of bee, and many other pollinating insects, in Saskatchewan,” RSM Curator of Invertebrate Zoology Cory Sheffield said. “Many of them make significant contributions to the pollination of native plants and agricultural crops in the province. My hope is that this exhibit raises awareness of their importance and leaves visitors with a better understanding of pollinators and the pollination process.”
The exhibit will be on display at the RSM until the fall of 2015. A new exhibit will replace it at that time and the pollination exhibit will start touring the province as part of the RSM’s travelling exhibit program.
