All Posts
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Diorama Spotlight: Snow Geese at Lake Traverse
Published06/24/2020 , By Adam Hartman
In North America, few natural events mark the changing seasons as dramatically as spring waterfowl migration. As flocks of tens, even hundreds of thousands, of snow geese soar overhead to their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic, spring returns in the form of snow melt, new growth, and longer days.… -
National Pollinator Week 2020
Published06/22/2020 , By Heather, Gallery Programs Coordinator & MN Master Naturalist; Adam, Gallery Programs Assistant
Pollinators play a key role in plant reproduction for the majority of flowering plant species. When pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, bats, birds, and many other insects visit flowers, they end up moving pollen from flower to flower, which results in plant fertilization. While some plants are able to self-fertilize,… -
Three Cheers for the Giant Water Bug
Published06/17/2020 , By Holly Menninger, director of public engagement and science learning
As you toast the fathers in your life this coming Father’s Day, let’s also give a nod to the dads across the animal kingdom who are caring for, protecting, and teaching the next generation of offspring. -
Diorama Spotlight: Moose at Gunflint Lake
Published06/13/2020 , By Amber Kastner, Public Science Events Manager
In northern Minnesota, where the southern hardwood trees give way to the boreal forests of Canada, a unique transition area provides habitat for some of our state’s most iconic species. Along the border in particular, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness protects many of these plants and animals from development… -
Meet the Beetles
Published06/09/2020
Did you know we have a colony of dermestid beetles in the collections to prepare skeletons from carcasses? -
City Stardust: Micrometeorites in Our Own Backyards
Published
Micrometeorites are some of the oldest matter that exists. Until recently, scientists searched for them only in remote places, such as the Antarctic, where pristine conditions ensured that these mineral specks really came from space. Experts assumed that it would be impossible to find micrometeorites in inhabited areas, where natural… -
Lichen Minded
Published , By Eve Daniels
Next time you’re out in nature, take a moment to look for the lichens. You’ll see their unique colors and patterns on the rocks, trees, and stone structures everywhere from Northern Minnesota to the world’s deserts, tropics, and tundras. A symbiotic organism that’s part fungi, part algae or cyanobacteria, lichens… -
Diorama Spotlight: Big Woods
Published05/28/2020 , By Adam Hartman, gallery programs assistant
During early European settlement of this continent, French traders referred to the more than 2,000 square miles of hardwood forest in what is now south-central Minnesota as the “Big Woods.” Not only was the forest vast, but the trees that grew there were huge (or “big”)! Today, all that remains… -
Minnesota Skies: June 2020
Published05/27/2020 , By Deane Morrison, Thaddeus LaCoursiere & Sarah Komperud
Venus has just left the evening sky, and now Jupiter and Saturn are moving in. By mid-month, both will be up in the southeast before midnight. Jupiter, by far the brighter planet, shines west of Saturn and leads the ringed planet across the night sky. -
2020 Graduate Awards & Fellowships
Published05/19/2020
Congratulations to 2020 recipients of these natural history awards and fellowships!