Gus the Tortoise at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History - August 2019

The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, part of the

Nova Scotia Museum Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...

, is located in downtown

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. The museum includes collections and exhibits concerning the natural sciences as well as artifacts of cultural significance to Nova Scotia. Gus, the oldest known

gopher tortoise The gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide ...

, has lived at the museum for most of his life, after being purchased by a former curator of the museum, Donald Crowdis. The museum celebrated Gus's 97th birthday on August 11, 2019.

History

The Provincial Museum was first established in 1868. In 1910, it moved into the

Nova Scotia Technical College The Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) was a Canadian university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. TUNS was officially founded as the Nova Scotia Technical College on 25 April 1907. On 1 April 1997 it was merged into Dalhousie Universit ...

Spring Garden Road The Spring Garden Road area, along with Barrington Street (which it adjoins) is a major commercial and cultural district in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It acquired its name from the fresh water spring that flows directly beneath it. It comprise ...

(the building now home to

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

's Faculty of Architecture and Planning). It was renamed the Nova Scotia Museum of Science in 1947. In 1970, the museum moved to the current building on Summer Street. In 1993, the Museum of Natural History was created as a constituent institution of the wider

system. The Nova Scotia Museum headquarters is located in the same building as the Museum of Natural History.

References

External links

Museum of Natural History
{{authority control Museums established in 1868 1868 establishments in Canada Natural history museums in Canada Museums in Halifax, Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Museum