Fernbank gets wild with new exhibit

It’s one thing to read about animal conservation.

It’s another to sit in the cockpit of an ultralight aircraft, a manufactured breeze swooshing by your face, and choose camera angles to follow a pilot as he trains whooping crane fledglings to properly migrate.

That’s one of the experiences in the new exhibit at Fernbank Museum of Natural History – “Wildlife Rescue” – which debuted in Atlanta on Saturday and will remain through May 6.

The display, which originated in Canada, is heavily interactive, with more than 40 games, educational teasers and videos present to enlighten about, say, the plight of the Panamanian golden frog and the evils of the chytrid fungus. Or a series of X-rays illuminating the broken toes on a raccoon or the fractured shell of a turtle.

It certainly hits that “sweet spot for children,” said Brandi Berry, director of public relations at Fernbank, but understanding the perils of extinction is an issue that appeals to adults, too, and “Wildlife Rescue” strikes that balance.

As a complement to the exhibit, the museum is showing the IMAX film “Born to be Wild,” a gorgeously shot presentation of a baby elephant shelter in Kenya with Dame Daphne Sheldrick and an orangutan habitat in Borneo with Dr. Birute Mary Galikas.

The film contemplates the importance of rehabbing abandoned or injured young animals and then releasing them back to their organic homes.

The exhibit as well showcases, “how to restore wildlife to natural habitats, how some animals are being raised in captivity, issues that arise in protecting the animals’ current locales,” said Lynn Anders, education programs manager specializing in animal programs at Fernbank.

Every weekend – as well as during spring break – live animal encounters will be held at the museum and representatives from local rescue groups will setup tables to educate and answer questions about animal care and conservation.

But the true learning experience comes from the hands-on presentations, which include:

• Rubbing a 48-inch long sturgeon to trigger a video about their livelihood.

• Identifying the scat (not real, obviously) of an Iberian lynx.

• Hopping on a scale to compare your weight to that of a Giant Panda.

• Using a beak-nosed California Condor puppet to feed a mechanical chick, the way rescue workers would.

• Understanding why the pilot of the ultralight aircraft used to train the whooping cranes is dressed like a mummy.

• Putting on a shell and crawling through a tunnel filled with traffic noise to feel like a turtle on the wrong side of the tracks.

• Using dish soap to clean and rehab sea birds.

For the finale of the exhibit, a “wall of support” has been erected – a series of panels fitted with electronic counters asking visitors to pledge to help endangered animals, buy eco-friendly products and plant native trees.

Exhibit preview

“Wildlilfe Rescue”

Through May 6. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. $17.50 (adults); $16.50 (students and seniors); $15.50 (children 3-12); free (children 2 and under). Fernbank Museum of Natural History, 767 Clifton Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-929-6300, www.fernbankmuseum.org.

At Fernbank IMAX theater: