End of exhibition:
23. February 2020
The museum's new special exhibition focuses on the natural history of colors. How are the colors of nature created? What functions do they perform and how did color perception develop? A large number of fossils and specimens are presented on 130 square meters of special exhibition space, providing new perspectives and stimulating discussion. Our eyes and our nervous system allow us to perceive light with different wave properties in the form of differentiated colors. Our animal ancestors acquired the ability to see colors in the course of biological evolution.
In adaptation to the light conditions and colors of inanimate nature, plants, animals, fungi and unicellular organisms formed pigments and dyes that fulfill different functions. They serve, among other things, as radiation protection, for energy production, for coloring their own body surface or for light perception.
Iridescent colors and metallic effects are a special feature, as they occur in some butterflies and birds. They are not produced by pigments, but by the special layering of the tissues close to the surface.
The exhibition also explores the question: How colorful was the past? Pigment traces can also be found on some fossil remains of extinct creatures. One example of this are insect wings from the time before the appearance of the dinosaurs, which show a clear light/dark pattern.
Evolutionary biological processes in particular are illustrated in this exhibition. The reciprocal development of colorfulness and color perception (vision) has filled nature with the most vivid colors and shades. To this end, different types of eyes have evolved in very different ways and are equipped with highly specialized light-sensing cells and visual pigments.
The stations with living exhibits, which we are setting up in cooperation with external partners and the Gruson greenhouses in Magdeburg, will form a popular part of the special exhibition. On display will be stick insects with camouflage colors, tropical poison dart frogs with warning colors and cichlids that communicate with signal colors.
