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New Exhibition, Skulls, Opens at the San Diego Natural History Museum Just in Time for Halloween
October 7, 2011; San Diego—The exhibit design staff at the San Diego Natural History Museum has created a new exhibition that will be on display beginning October 26, 2011. Skulls features close to 200 animal skulls that had previously been housed in the collections of the Museum’s research department, the Biodiversity Research Center for the Californias. Skulls will be included with General Admission to the Museum and will make its debut at the Museum’s Annual Meeting and Open House for members.
“Everybody loves skulls,” said Traveling Exhibits Designer Josh Payne. “The Museum has thousands [of skulls] in our collection and we have always wanted to show them to the public. This exhibition illustrates some of the strange adaptations in animals that enable them to find food, dig burrows, smell, hear, and see.”
Skulls features research specimens of animals rarely—if ever—on display from around the world. These include mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, ranging from the big and spectacular (a rhinoceros, a big-horned sheep, a giraffe) to the miniature (California’s own tiny Western Black-headed Snake).
Visitors will be able compare the skulls of all 57 species of San Diego County’s snakes and lizards; watch scavenger beetle larvae devour the flesh off a real animal skeleton, leaving it clean for scientists to study; and create “skull art” or write a question about a skull for Museum scientists on the Skulls “chalkboard wall.”
The San Diego Natural History Museum is the second oldest scientific institution in California and the third oldest west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1874 by a small group of citizen scientists, the Museum’s mission is to interpret the natural world through research, education and exhibits; to promote understanding of the evolution and diversity of southern California and the peninsula of Baja California, Mexico; and to inspire in all people respect for the environment.
Website: www.sdnat.org
