The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day logo of 2020, created by UC Davis biology lab manager Ivana Li.

Remember last year? On Feb. 15, 2020, just before the pandemic hit, 4000 people drove, trooped or biked to the UC Davis campus to meet and talk to scientists representing 13 museums or collections. The science fascinated them and some of the students attending began to form ideas for their college studies and careers.

This year we're going virtual with live talks and demonstrations and pre-recorded talks and activities. The events are posted on the Biodiversity Museum Day/Month website.

The museums or collections participating this year are:

• Anthropology Museum
• Arboretum and Public Garden
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
• Nematode Collection
• Marine Invertebrate Collection 
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

It's rather like Christmas in February, isn't it? And it's all free. 

For the live talks, you can learn about heliconius butterflies, bees and gardens, orchid bees, plants in the Botanical Conservatory, Asian giant hornets (aka murder hornets), ants, yeasts, mammal specimen preparations and raptors. And much more. 

Pre-recorded programs will encompass bee diversity, millipedes, herbariums and marine life, as well as how to make a bee condo and how to prepare insects (spread the wings of butterflies and moths) for  display. And much more. 

And if you'd like to donate to the UC Biodiversity Museum Day/Month program, you can do so through Crowdfund UC Davis "where alumni, students, parents and friends can make donations to support innovative projects that propel student engagement, new research discoveries, and efforts to expand UC Davis impact on California and the world."  The funding program will continue through the end of February.

To donate, click here: 

https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310