CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, ILE IFE, OSUN STATE

This museum is located at the campus of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-ife.

Aside from the institute fundamental Afrique Noir located in Dakar, Senegal, the

museum is the only one of its type in the West African region. .The idea of having a

natural history museum in the university came up in 1971 .The museum was officially

inaugurated on February 25, 2011, after 40 years of planning .It is renowned for its

striking architecture .Till date, the museum’s herbarium has about 20,000 fully identified

plants .The identified bird specimens number 5, 150 .There are over 6,000 archaeological

artifacts (including the famous Ife terracotta, Ife glass beads, crucibles, tobacco pipes)

.The museum’s artifact and scientific collections have been a great resource to local and

international researchers .The Natural History Museum has been at the forefront of

conservation research in Nigeria .Ile-ife is a city in Osun State and the capital of Osun is

Osogbo.

1.2 MUSEUM'S OBJECTIVES

 To conduct research into the vast natural and cultural history of Nigeria.

 To serve as a repository of natural and cultural objects in Nigeria.

 To create scientific awareness on natural and cultural resources of Nigeria through

annotated exhibitions for public enlightenment in display galleries

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  To prepare data bases on natural history and cultural resources of Nigeria, and thus

facilitate an information-retrieval system on them for use by the public and the

scientific community as a basis for sustainable development.

 To provide identification services on natural history and cultural objects to user

groups especially pest control, workers in Archaeology, Agriculture, veterinary

and Human Medicine

1.3 ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

The general administration of the Natural History Museum is under the direction and

control of a Board Management The Director who is the administrative head is

responsible to the board of management. Coming under the authority of the Director is

the secretary to the museum who is in charge of reception to the director's office and

general administration cum official procedures

The museum guards and security; the curators (designers, taxidermists, technicians,

photographers, graphics artists, draughtsman) and the researchers who are scientists in

charge of the six sub-sections of the scientific unit. Botany, Entomology, Zoology, Earth

Science, Paleontology Archeology and Anthropology.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 COLLECTION

The Museum serves as an important ex-situ conservation facility on Nigeria's biodiversity

resources, important rocks, mineral and archaeology artifacts. The scientific staff are

actively involved in research, which continuously yield a lot of interesting specimens for

the Museum collection. A number of bequeaths and gifts have also been received.

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To date, the Museum Herbarium has about 20,000 fully identified plants. The identified

bird specimens number 5, 150, while specimens of rocks and minerals of southwestern

Nigeria have been collected and catalogued. There is also a sizeable collection of

mammals, fossils, insect and over 6,000 archaeological artifacts (including the famous Ife

terracotta, Ife glass beads, crucibles, tobacco pipes). The Museum's artifact and scientific

collections have been a great resource to local and international researchers.

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The vision of the founders of Natural History Museum was that it should house all type

specimens of all natural and history cultural history objects, collected in the course of all

research in all department and faculties in this University. This has not been the case in

the past because of space problems. We hope that with the completion of an ultramodern

architectural master piece, colleagues will now come forward to deposit their type

specimens.

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Collections form the base of reference materials in the museum which is basically the

samplings of population in an environment or habitat. Expeditions are organized with the

assistance of scientist/researchers; material, and specimen like birds, mammals, insects;

plants collected are brought back to the museum to be processed by the staff in the

service sections. The collections are grouped for future studies. The museum has

acquisition policy like donations and bequeaths.

The specimens collected are recorded with headings to tell the exact locality , altitudes if

collected on mountains or depths in waters, the vegetation types, aspect of behaviour,

photographs, cast of animals, nest, seasons etc. various museums techniques are

employed by the curators to do the collection of materials.

Generally, the collected materials are labeled with all essential data in the field at the time

of preparation with museum labels having items such as locally, date, collector's name,

sex of the animal/specimens, weight, colouration etc. the materials are preserved in

various ways to prevent deterioration, desiccation and protein decay of collections, the

material are prepared for study and exhibition depending on the line of research. Birds

and mammals are skinned, skeleton and skulls are prepared, slides of parts of organs are

mounted, insect are pinned, mounted, dried in cases and boxes. The research collections

because of their importance are housed like research libraries in high security, fire proof,

dustproof cases. Cataloguing is done after specimens are identified; the method of

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cataloguing depend on the group of animals, plants mineral and rocks. Unidentified

materials are however kept within the family or genus to where they belong.

2.1 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES

The Natural History Museum has been at the forefront of conservation research in

Nigeria. Some of the major scientific researches conducted are as follows:

 Characterization of a glass and beadmaking tradition of the Yoruba. This has been

adjudged the most comprehensive research on ancient glass chemistry in Africa.

 Provenance studies on soapstone statues in archaeological context.

 Provenance studies and materials characterization of ancient ceramic objects.

 Taxonomy of Reservoir fishes in Osun State of Nigeria

 Classification and characterization of the genus vernonia in Nigeria and parts of

West Africa

 Technological evaluation of ancient metallurgical advances of the Yoruba of

southwestern Nigeria.

 Complete classification of phyllosilicates and geochemical evolution of rocks of

the schist belt of southwestern Nigeria.

 Taxonomic evaluation by morphometric and molecular analyses of rodents and

other small mammals from various vegetation belts across Nigeria.

 Genetic studies and classification of the rice genus oryza

 Archaeological / Anthropological survey of natural, cultural and historical sites for

tourism development in Nigeria.

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 Inventory of geological, biological, anthropological and archaeological diversity

of Idanre Hills, Ondo State of Nigeria.

 Multidisciplinary survey of Igbo – Oje abandoned settlement in Ogbomoso South

Local Government area of Oyo State of Nigeria

 Bioecological studies on Honeybees of Southwestern Nigeria.

 Faunistic inventory of orb-weaving Spiders in Southwestern Nigeria

 Mosquito-rock-aquatic plant association of Southwestern Nigeria.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3.1 ZOOLOGY SECTION OF THE MUSEUM

THE BLACK EAGLE

The black eagle. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member

of the genus Ictinaetus. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and

subtropical South and Southeast Asia, as well as southeastern China. They hunt mammals

and birds, particularly at their nests. They are easily identified by their widely splayed

and long primary "fingers", the characteristic silhouette, slow flight and yellow ceres and

legs that contrast with their dark feathers.

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TORTOISE

Tortoise, (family Testudinidae), any member of the turtle family Testudinidae. Formerly,

the term tortoise was used to refer to any terrestrial turtle. The testudinids are easily

recognized because all share a unique hind-limb anatomy made up of elephantine (or

cylindrical) hind limbs and hind feet; each digit in their forefeet and hind feet contains

two or fewer phalanges. With the exception of the pancake tortoise (Malacochersus

tornieri), the shell is high domed. Shells of some species are nearly spherical with a

flattened base.

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INSECT

Insect, (class Insecta or Hexapoda), any member of the largest class of the phylum

Arthropoda, which is itself the largest of the animal phyla. Insects have segmented

bodies, jointed legs, and external skeletons (exoskeletons). Insects are distinguished from

other arthropods by their body, which is divided into three major regions: (1) the head,

which bears the mouthparts, eyes, and a pair of antennae, (2) the three-segmented thorax,

which usually has three pairs of legs (hence “Hexapoda”) in adults and usually one or

two pairs of wings, and (3) the many-segmented abdomen, which contains the digestive,

excretory, and reproductive organs.

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SNAKE

A snake skeleton consists primarily of the skull, vertebrae, and ribs, with only vestigial

remnants of the limbs.

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3.2 BOTANY SECTION OF THE MUSEUM

3.2.1 THE HERBARIUM SPECIMEN

Plant specimens are collected in the field, pressed flat between newspapers, and dried in a

plant press.

At the time of collection, the collector takes notes in a field-log about the possible

identity of the plant, where and when it was collected, habitat characteristics including

soil type and other plant associates, flower color and scent, size and habit of the plant,

and any other pertinent information that may not be obtainable from the resultant

specimen.

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After drying, the plant is mounted on acid-free paper with a label providing the name and

classification of the plant as well as all collection data. After mounting, herbarium

specimens are stored in special cabinets and are filed in order by taxonomic group and

then by geographic origin.

3.2.2 PLANT COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION

Preserved plant specimens provide us with important information about plant diversity

and distribution, in a relatively permanent, and verifiable form that serves as evidence of

a plant’s existence in time and space. If these specimens are properly preserved and

maintained, they can last for well over 200 years. In a time where we are experiencing

rapid habitat loss, herbaria provide important repositories for these sorts of data, and

ensure their availability for future research.

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Plant collections are made by botanists, scientists of other disciplines, and citizen

scientists in order to document their research and interest. Whenever a plant plays a role

in a research study (regardless of the discipline) it is good scientific practice to document

this evidence in the form of a plant specimen voucher that will be deposited in a

herbarium. Beyond providing support for the research study, this ensures botanists have

the opportunity to verify the identification of the plant.

It is particularly important that plant collections be made in such a manner as to increase

their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for

future research.

CONCLUSION

The student industrial work experience scheme has helped students in acquiring lots of

skills in their fields of study, particularly, I have gained so much experience and

knowledge about my field of study and also, I was exposed to the requirement of the

labor market and also how to interact and work with other co-workers. All these skilled

acquired are some of the aims and objectives of student industrial work experience

scheme (SIWES); therefore the student industrial work experience scheme should be

implemented and encouraged in all tertiary Institutions.

RECOMMENDATION

I hereby recommend this Program to my fellow students, and take it serious because it is

a Program that will increase their knowledge and understanding on their field of course.

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