After a decade of wear and tear, the whisper dishes in the Museum Reserve are getting a much-needed facelift by Dunedin artist Bruce Mahalski, in the form of a native eagle owl and a native pekapeka short-tailed bat.
Otago Museum spokesman Charlie Buchan said they were chosen for specific reasons.
"One dish is of the eagle owl, which is in the museum's collection and is a spectacular example of taxidermy.
"For many years it took pride of place in John Darby's office, who became an Otago Museum zoologist in 1969 and was appointed assistant director in 1971.
"It is now in the museum’s Animal Attic."
He said the bird was also a good face for one of the dishes because it hunted at night and relied on non-visual senses such as sound .
The short-tailed bat was selected because it is one of only two species of native bat and New Zealand’s only native mammals.
"They use echolocation — very high-pitched sounds (mostly above the range of human hearing) to navigate.
"The sounds they make are reflected, and they use these reflections to locate and avoid objects in their path and to hunt."
Mr Buchan said the whisper dishes were curved parabolic dishes, which can collect, focus and amplify sound waves, and were a fun way to show the public how animals like the eagle owl and bat used sound to navigate and hunt.
The artworks are expected to be completed today.
