Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
The mission of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is to
inspire wonder, discovery and responsibility for our natural and cultural
worlds. The Museum holds in its trust a vast and diverse collection of
more than 35 million specimens and artifacts covering 4.5 billion years
of Earth and human history. Free admission is offered to Los Angeles Unified
school groups and a host of community outreach programs, monthly lectures
and classes are offered to adults and children. Children's educational
programs such as "Adventures in Nature" are offered each winter
and summer, and the Museum houses an interactive Discovery Center and
Insect Zoo where children can learn first-hand about natural science and
history.
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Permanent Exhibits
- Dinosaurs, the perennial
natural history museum favorite, are well represented here. Dinosaur
exhibits include the Museum's hallmark, the "Dueling Dinosaurs,"
complete skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops posed in battle,
a cast of the complete skeleton of a Mamenchisaurus, the largest-necked
dinosaur ever discovered, one of the few and finest Tyrannosaurus rex
skulls on view anywhere, and dramatic models of an Allosaurus and Carnotaurus
by sculptor/paleontologist Stephen Czerkas.
- Three world-famous habitat
halls that showcase African and North American mammals in their natural environments.
- The Museum is home to Megamouth,
the world's rarest shark -- a 14.5 foot long male that is the only one
of its kind on public view in North America. Only 11 of these elusive
sharks have been found since the first one was discovered in 1976.
- The Times Mirror Hall of
Native American Cultures showcases more than 800 pieces from the Museum's
permanent collections in 16 different interpretive areas. Highlights
include Navajo textiles from the William Randolph Hearst Collection,
California and Great Basin baskets, Southwest pottery and jewelry, Plains
beadwork, and replicas of a two-story Pueblo cliff dwelling and a collector's
California Craftman house.
- More than 2,000 gem and
mineral specimens are on view in the Gem and Mineral Hall. The hall
features one of the largest gold exhibits in the world, and includes
over 300 pounds of natural gold along with gold mining artifacts and
other memorabilia. The walk-through Hixon Gem Vault houses such spectacular
treasures as exquisite star rubies, emeralds and sapphires.
- In the Ralph M. Parsons Discovery Center and Insect Zoo, located on the ground floor, the focus is interactive family learning. This is made possible with “handle-able” specimens such as shells and fossils, terrariums filled with insects, reptiles and amphibians, and Gallery Interpreters who answer questions and give daily animal presentations. There is also a simulated “dig pit” where kids can excavate fossils. The Discovery Center’s residents include Cecil the iguana, Jay the python, and desert tortoises Sage, Acorn and Vanilla. The Insect Zoo houses tarantulas, desert iron clad beetles, scorpions, walkingsticks, velvet ants, hissing cockroaches, millipedes and medicinal leeches (rare in local insect zoos, and popular with our guests!)
- Tarantulas, scorpions, Madagascar
hissing cockroaches, giant spiny stick insects, dung beetles, giant
water bugs, and centipedes are among the residents of the Museum's Ralph
M. Parsons Insect Zoo. A fully-stocked refrigerator of insect delicacies
and interactive displays are featured.
- Animated birds, three walk-through
habitats and 27 separate learning stations are featured in the popular
Schreiber Hall of Birds. More than 500 birds from around the world are
on display.
- A unique exhibit, "Chaparral:
A Story of Life from Fire," demonstrates fire's importance in the
life cycle of chaparral through a multi-media presentation that surrounds
the visitor with the sights, sounds and even the smells of a chaparral
ecosystem.
- The Marine Hall features
intricate dioramas of sea life in California waters, from the intertidal
to the deep sea. Identifications of many of the animals and plants seen
by beachcombers and scuba divers are provided.
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Curators
The Museum's curators are widely-recognized
authorities in their field. They serve as faculty and research associates
at universities, museums and other institutions. Like university professors,
curators are engaged in field and on-site research, teaching and public
speaking. Their responsibilities also include building and preserving
the Museum's collections.
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Research and Collections
- Containing examples of nearly
half of the 25,000 known fish species, the Museum's ichthyology collection
is one of the largest in the nation. It is also recognized as an International
Resource Center for fishes.
- The Museum's herpetology
collection of reptiles and amphibians is particularly rich in specimens
from North and South America, eastern and southern Africa and Australia.
- The Museum boasts the world's
largest collection of southwestern moths and butterflies and one of
North America's largest collections of ants.
- Begun with 250 specimens
in 1913, the Museum's ornithological collection now numbers more than
104,000 birds, including more California condors than any other institution
in the world. All of the condors were presented to the Museum by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- The Museum houses the second
largest collection of marine mammals in the world. Curators in marine
mammalogy are actively involved in the marine mammal stranding project
administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
- Marine invertebrates account
for much of the oceans' biodiversity and are crucial to the ecology
of the seas. The Museum has the most extensive collection of West Coast
invertebrates in the world, and its holdings incorporate such specimens
as deep-sea and coral reef crabs, sea stars, snails, and worms from
exotic locales including the Antarctic, Galapagos Islands and the Caribbean.
- The Museum has the largest
catalogued vertebrate fossil collection and the sixth largest invertebrate
fossil collection in North America.
- Art plays an important part
in the Museum's history collections, which feature more than 500 works
by American artists. They include paintings by Edwin Deakin, Theodore
Wores, Charles R. Knight, Lemuel Wiles and drawings and prints by Currier
and Ives, John J. Audubon and Maynard Dixon.
- The Seaver Center for Western
History Research is responsible for a large collection of photographs,
manuscripts, maps, posters and ephemera, and is particularly rich in
photographs documenting the growth of Southern California. Housed within
the Museum, it is an important source for the general public, as well
as history students and scholars.
- Originally developed from
loans and donations of items relating to the Hispanic period of the
American Southwest, the History Collections remain rich in materials
from this era. The collections also include textiles, scientific instruments,
arms and armor, dolls, toys, games and many more artifacts of American
History.
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Educational Programs
- Through its School Tour
Program, the Museum provides tours on over 22 different subjects to
more than 270,000 students annually.
- The Museum's Classroom Collections
Service lends scientific specimens, historical models and artifacts,
slides and graphics to more than 150,000 school children in five Southern
California counties.
- The Earthmobile, a mobile
museum containing an archaeological excavation and laboratory, provides
opportunities for scientific enrichment and hands-on discovery to approximately
14,000 third through sixth graders in the Los Angeles School District
each year. The Seamobile takes middle school students from the Los Angeles
Unified School District on a simulated dive in a submersible beneath
the sea off the California coast. Approximately 12,000 students participate
at their school site each year and learn from this extraordinary mobile
museum.
- More than 750,000 people
each year enjoy programs provided by the Museum's Education Division,
at the Museum site, as well as at schools, libraries, hospitals, nursing
homes and science fairs.
The Natural History Museum
is located at 900 Exposition Blvd. The Museum is open seven days a week,
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults, $2 for children 5 - 12 and
$6.50 for students/seniors. Children under 5 are free. Groups of 10 or
more can receive discounted rates by calling (213) 763-3218. For 24-hour
Museum information please call (213) 763-DINO or visit the Museum's web
site at www.nhm.org.
The Natural History Museum
Family includes the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Page
Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits and the William S. Hart Museum.
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