“Only a handful of species are attracted to our eyes”
Please understand this post is not a provocation.
11 April, 2023 | Sydney Australia
Having mostly exhausted the standard museums and sights in Sydney…
Turns out there were two extremely cool museums/art galleries I missed, and this post will go through one of them: The Australian Museum.
“General or Sharks?”
Before I have taken two steps in, I was posed this question. I had no idea - was I being asked to join a musically inspired street gang?
No. That dream will continue to elude me. Like so many of the museums in Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Natural History Museum has special exhibits it actually charges for. The rest of the place is completely free. I figured if I wasn’t terrified enough by what I found, I could always do another circle back and take up the shark exhibit.
The museum opens by talking about itself - a natural instinct that I of course cannot relate to at all.
As Bryson mentioned in the book I bought to read on the beach, the Aboriginal peoples of Australia are basically the oldest continuously maintained culture for which we have records. “Imagine if there were some people in France that could take you to the caves in Lascaux” he writes, “and explain in detail the significance of the paintings.”
But I’ll admit my favorite exhibit was the desperate attempts to downplay the enormous number of hilariously deadly things in this country with this area, named appropriately enough:
Few things here:
- There are flies that are attracted to our eyes? You are including this?
- Let me answer your question “so is our dangerous reputation really fair?” Yes.
- If you need a feel-good shorthand for mosquitos, you need to reexamine your attitude toward the relative risk of the second most dangerous species on the planet
- I’m getting explained relative risk by a nation of gambling addicts
Okay, okay. That last one isn’t fair. But I’m responding in kind to the most aggressive dismissal of dangerous creatures I have ever heard. Yes, I understand I am much more likely to be pancaked by a car. Especially while biking here. But there are worse fates. And having a fly burrow into your eye socket to control your mind or breathing in that fog that turns you inside out (might not exist, a lot of this stuff ran together toward the end) are among them.
The whole thing is like this. I am in love with it. In awe.
I took a picture of almost every part of the exhibit but I’ll spare you the nightmares. As a palette cleanser and good prompt for the next post, vote on whether you believe this is a LGBTQ bar or not:
