Florida parade's environmental theme highlights new natural history museum in Puerto Rico
The Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival is days away from rolling through downtown Orlando Saturday.
This year's parade theme is on renewable energy and the environment - something the Museum of Natural History and Conservation of Puerto Rico knows a lot about.
The museum recently opened in Aguadilla, which is the city being honored at this year's Florida parade. It's dedicated to preserving Puerto Rico's natural wonders, as well as its history.
Before the museum's creation, any fossils found on the island were taken by museums around the word.
'The museum now in Aguadilla will be able to keep the fossils that we collect in Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico,' said the museum's co-founder, geologist Hernán Santos.
The goal is to research geology and paleontology, diving into specimens, sedimentary rocks and marine deposits. It's all part of an effort to not only educate, but create advancements in technology to help save lives in natural disasters, such as landslides.
Santos gave an example of instruments that are installed in the ground that alert municipalities when the soil's saturation level gets too high.
'So they saved lives by actually monitoring the amount of rain, amount of water going into the soil,' he said.
WFTV is the official broadcast partner for the Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival. It will be streamed live on air and online at wftv.com starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
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