Naturalist, author and broadcaster John Acorn, affectionately known to fans as The Nature Nut, will speak in Kelowna on Nov. 27 about two of his favourite topics: birds and dinosaurs.
More precisely, he’ll look at how dinosaurs and birds are connected. As the next presenter in UBC Okanagan’s Distinguished Speaker Series, Acorn will explore the recent discovery of feathered dinosaurs, and other connections between the first birds and early two-legged meat eating theropods (“beast-footed”) dinosaurs.
“The notion that birds are dinosaurs has gained widespread scientific acceptance,” he says. “But what does this mean, really?”
An instructor of wildlife biodiversity and ecology at the University of Alberta, Acorn is also host of the Discovery Channel’s popular program Acorn, the Nature Nut. He also hosted the TV series Twits and Pishers, examining bird life and the study of birds. He is a research associate at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and the E. H. Strickland Entomology Museum, and has served as president of the Entomological Society of Alberta.
Acorn’s work has been honoured in many ways, including the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Award Foundation Prize for Excellence in Science and Technology Journalism and two “Rosies” from the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association.
Acorn’s free public lecture in Kelowna is at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 27, in the Rotary Centre for the Arts’ Mary Irwin Theatre, 421 Cawston Ave.
Tickets to the Distinguished Speaker Series presentation are free but they must be picked up or ordered in advance from the Rotary Centre for the Arts box office (call 250-717-5304). Box office hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
For more information about the Distinguished Speaker Series, visit:
http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/speakers
Acorn Presents Fall Lecture in Vernon
John Acorn will also speak in Vernon the following evening, 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 28, as part of a fall lecture series co-sponsored by the Vernon Museum and Archives and UBC Okanagan.
His presentation, entitled The Paleo Perspective, looks at how the perspective of paleontology is important in a variety of contexts, ranging from climate change debates to how we manage parks and protected areas, biodiversity preservation and the current extinction crisis. Admission is $10 at the door for this lecture at Okanagan College’s Kalamalka Campus lecture theatre, 7000 College Way, Vernon.
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