Queloniums, armoured animals
Exhibit about conservation of turtles in Venezuela
National Science Museum

This outdoor exhibition started as a very small project. The idea was to support an existing
exhibition about a giant fossil turtle exhibited in the galleries of the Museum. However, after
some months of development it became a more elaborated and rich exhibition that standed
by itself. Prestigious advisors joined the the project and the exhibit soon became our
visitors' favorite.

As a Project Manager and Exhibit Developer my challenge was to create an educational and
engaging exhibition in a way that not only supported the existing exhibition, but that also
supported the conservation of the endangered species of turtles in Venezuela.

I participated in this project in many ways: as a Project Manager, as an Exhibit Developer,
and as a filmaker. As Project Manager I lead fundraising strategies, managed all the
donations, created a selected team of advisors, coordinated the animal collections loans
and I lead a team of 22 professionals.

As Exhibit Developer, I created the story and its elements and work shoulder to shoulder with
the 3D Designer and the Graphic Designer to create engaging exhibits and also healthy
and educational animal enclosures. I had a strong participation in the design of animal areas
due to my extensive research in zoo design and also because this was the first time the
National Museum had an animal exhibit and our staff was new to this kind of exhibit spaces.

Finally, I participated as a photographer and filmaker, documenting the rescue and release of a
leatherback turtle in a nearby coastal town. The documentary was included as part of the exhibition.
To learn more about this story click here.

The exhibition opened only four months, due to the inherent difficulties of animal keeping.
However, the exhibition welcomed 256,000 visitors during that period; a record for the
museum's 800,000 visitors/year.

At the entrance, a big panel introduced visitors to the thematic zones of the exhibition:
Reptiles, Biology, Evolution, Ecology, Treats and Conservation.

We unearthed an abandoned pond used to keep aligators in the decade of the 50s.
We considered the wildlife dynamics existing in the garden during its recovery. The forest
housed dozens of bird species, rare squirrels and several families of Three-toed Sloths.

Fifteen of the seventeen species of venezuelan turtles were exhibited in four different areas.

This Touch-table presented different textures of protective body parts in the animal world.
Many of them have the same chemistry but different shape, like turtle shells, hair, nails
or feathers.

The story was linear. Visitors follow a stone trail.

This interactive exhibit explained how the different shapes of beaks help turtles to eat
different types of food.

Graphic panels explained every topic.

To offer different levels of information, we developed hands-on labels that visitors could
read if they wanted to know more. These pages were available at the website and
together they could be made into a book.

This interactive exhibit explained how queloniums bodies had evolved for different environments.
By rotating these legs inside the water, visitors could feel the higher traction power of the
turtle's wing and the weakness of the tortoise's leg.

The interactive exhibit at left explained the relationship between different organism in the same habitat.
A black cardboard with a white circle on the end, worked as an explorer light that "illuminated"
the scene. By following the arrows in the graphic, visitors discovered the ecological dynamics
between members of the same habitat.

At this combination of exhibits, visitors learned about four of the most important threats:
Habitat reduction, hunting, pollution and illegal traffic.

The "Conservation Zone" took place inside a giant tent. This scientist's-workstation environment
included devices such as a nursery for baby turtles, an incubator, a rescue video, a researcher's
desk with his/her tools and interpretation about conservation institutions.

The scientist's desk with his/her tools and their function explained.

An incubator kept real turtle eggs warm, waiting for the eggs to hatch.