Behind the Scenes | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

Members Get Behind the Scenes!

A behind-the-scenes tour gives members the unparalleled opportunity to hear directly from the Natural History Museum's renowned scientists and curators as they walk you through collections not on view to the public and update you on their latest research and fieldwork conducted around the globe.

Scavenger's Safari

Explore behind the scenes and discover a different curatorial department each month. Meet our scientists, researchers and collections managers, and go on a scavenger hunt throughout the Museum. Learn more >

Free for members at the Patron Family level and higher. To join, renew, or upgrade, click here.

All Stars of Science

We'll roll out the red carpet for you and up to 10 guests on this weekday behind the scenes tour with one of our world-renowned Museum curators. Learn more >

Free for members at the Naturalist level and higher. To join, renew or upgrade, click here.

Host a private Scavenger's Safari

An exclusive opportunity to visit behind the scenes with a Museum expert and go on a scavenger hunt throughout the Museum for up to 12 of your friends and family.

Free for members at the Explorer level and higher. To join, renew or upgrade, click here.

Exclusive Behind the Scenes Access

Fellows members have an opportunity for exclusive behind the scenes access of the Museum's collections. Learn more >

 Free for Fellows members. To join, renew or upgrade, click here.

Have you gone behind the scenes?

Polychaetes - Because of this collection's world-class status, it receives near-constant use by marine biologists from the west coast, and specimens are routinely lent to specialists all over the world. Come check out these beautiful creaturess.

Crustacea - Crabs, shrimps, and lobsters are well-known crustaceans. However, barnacles, pill bugs, amphipods, copepods, krill, crayfishes, sea fleas, clam shrimps, fairy shrimps, and many others also belong to the Crustacea, an ancient group that arose in the early Cambrian nearly 600 million years ago.

Anthropology - This collection reflects humankind, past and present. It includes ancient artifacts, photographs, tools, costumes, and art objects.

Echinoderms  - Echinoderms are sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, feather stars, and related animals. For many millions of years, they have been among the most conspicuous and abundant oceanic organisms. People around the world have recognized their beauty and importance since ancient times. 

History - A number of extraordinary collections in the department date back to the founding of the Museum in 1913; they contain artifacts, photographs, and rare documents reflecting the Spanish, Mexican, and early American periods of California history. 

Ichthyology - The Natural History Museum's fish collection is one of ten internationally recognized ichthyological collections in the United States. Most of its most extraordinary treasures are behind the scenes.

Mineralogy - This incredible collection features minerals, rocks, gems, and about 50 meteorites! 

Ornithology - The bird collections consist of some 115,000 specimens, prepared as skins, skeletons, fluid-preserved specimens, and taxidermy mounts; many also have associated frozen tissue samples. It also includes ancillary collections of photographs and field notes and a small synoptic collection of bird eggs.

Malacology - This collection includes gastropods (marine, terrestrial, and freshwater snails and slugs), bivalves (marine and freshwater clams), cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus), polyplacophorans (chitons), scaphopods (tusk shells), aplacophorans (wormlike mollusks), and monoplacophorans (‘primitive’ limpetlike snails).

Mammalogy - The highlights of this collection includes Neotropical mammals; Old World fruit bats; strong collections of African mammals including more than 1,000 artiodactyls, many from areas where they no longer occur due to human disturbance and environmental change; and broad holdings of local species collected throughout Southern California.

La Brea Tar Pits - The collection is best known for its extensive holdings of carnivorans, of which dire wolves (Canis dirus, 4,000+ individuals), sabertoothed cats (Smilodon fatalis, 2,000+ individuals), and coyotes (Canis latrans, 400+) predominate among the 60 plus species of mammals.

Vertebrate Paleontology - This is a treasure trove of fossil remains of animals with backbones such as fishes, sharks, amphibians, reptiles, including dinosaurs, birds and mammals. The specimens range in size from the tiny teeth of bats, shrews, and rodents, to large whales. 

Taxidermy - Come learn about the process of preparing animals and their habitats for exhibit.

Insect Zoo - We'll introduce you to tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes and a variety of insects from around the globe.

 Explore Research and Collections >