Tag archives: Museum of Natural History
Meet Consul fabius, the Tiger Leafwing. This butterfly belongs to a group with camouflaged undersides that make them appear as mere dead leaves when resting. The Tiger Leafwing species has a second disguise as well. When flying, its boldly patterned topside causes it to resemble another species – the Tiger Longwing. All longwing butterflies are […]
Though plantlike in appearance, this is actually a specimen of a soft-coral colonial animal. It’s Eugorgia daniana, a species of gorgonian. Unlike their hard-coral cousins, gorgonians don’t build reefs but are still capable of creating impressive structures. A gorgonian’s body has a firm internal axis that looks like a dead tree. Depending on the type […]
Most natural history museum collections are organized by the evolutionary relationships between species. Many drawers provide an in-depth view of a particular species or genus. This drawer is different: it’s what curators call a synoptic collection because it provides an overview of something – in this case, moth species found in Ventura County. These moths […]
This detail is from a 1658 edition of a work that began in the late 1500s: The Theater of Insects, or Lesser Living Creatures by British physician Thomas Moffet. Originally published in Latin, it was translated into English and appended to the back of Edward Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents. That enormous tome […]
These strikingly green shells belong to the Emerald Green Snail, Papustyla pulcherrima. The species is endemic to (only found on) Manus Island off the shores of Papua New Guinea. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as near threatened. Habitat destruction is the primary threat, as the rainforest trees the species relies […]
This elegant hand-colored engraving is now on display in The Collectors: A Life in Lepidoptera at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. It’s one of many antique natural history prints that collectively depict how the science of entomology has been furthered by the passion of collectors and the skill of artists. The butterflies pictured here […]
No, this isn’t a collection of antique corn dogs – it’s a scientifically valuable record of regional biodiversity. These are Botta’s Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae) specimens in the Vertebrate Zoology Collections at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. To the consternation of many farmers and gardeners, gophers seem particularly abundant in the region right now, […]
This beetle flew around the South American rainforest hoping to smell a dead mouse. He used his horny protuberances to fight off other males and control the carrion. Following this adventurism he might mate with a female, because who can resist a guy with a dead mouse? Together, they’d bury the body and she’d lay […]
This three-inch-long Joro Spider (Trichonephila clavata) lurked in the manicured landscaping at a high-end coastal business in Santa Barbara County. Although harmless to humans, it is a potentially invasive species. There is some evidence it can outcompete native orb-weavers in southeastern North America. Native to east Asia, the species was observed in Georgia in 2014, […]
Did you think this was a Dodo? You’re not a dodo for thinking so. The bird depicted in this chromolithograph is the famous Dodo’s closest relative, the Rodrigues Solitaire. Both species of flightless birds are now extinct. François Leguat was marooned on the island of Rodrigues in the 1690s and described the Rodrigues Solitaire in […]
Pierre-Joseph Redouté was among the great flower painters of any age. During Napoleon’s reign he was commissioned to paint the roses in Empress Josephine’s garden at Château de Malmaison, her villa outside of Paris. She was devoted to horticulture and filled gardens with both native and exotic roses. Redouté’s fine detailed watercolors were translated into […]
San Ysidro Ranch is setting the stage for romance throughout Valentine’s season 2026, inviting couples to celebrate love amid its iconic rose gardens and lavender-lined paths. Now through the end of February, the intimate Speakeasy at Plow & Angel glows with a dramaticinstallation of 12,000 illuminated hearts, plush velvet booths, and live music, paired with […]
The SB Museum of Natural History announced this week that Matthew Adams has been appointed its new Board of Trustees Chair, along with new board of trustee members David Telleen-Lawton and Hank Mitchel. Adams served on the trustee board and works as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner at Mission Wealth. Telleen-Lawton has a […]
It’s the time of year when Wood Ducks pair up! Audubon painted this lively image in New Orleans in 1821. He dramatized the courtship and nesting habits of this species while showing the remarkable patterns and colors of their feathers. The Wood Ducks are from the Museum’s collection of prints from the American edition of […]
Considered critically endangered today, the Kākāpō is a nocturnal flightless parrot endemic to New Zealand. Captured in a hand-colored lithograph, this particular Kākāpō belongs to the 1873 book A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Walter Lawry Buller. Buller wrote from a desire to record a complete life history of his homeland’s interesting […]
The SB Museum of Natural History’s Science Pub returns on December 8 at Dargan’s Irish Pub SB. Presenting is National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Research Associate Cat Fong, Ph.D., on the new Wildfire Resilience Index (WRI) which is said to be “a groundbreaking tool that turns complex data into insight about how […]
Most museum drawers don’t look anything like this. To help researchers find the specimens they need to consult, a typical drawer of specimens is organized based on how organisms are related to each other, and therefore contains specimens that look similar. This feast for the eyes represents a slice of the mollusk marine diversity preserved […]
A splendid menagerie of natural history specimens filled four large volumes of Albertus Seba’s 18th century publication Thesaurus or Cabinet of Curiosities. A Dutch pharmacist and collector of curiosities, Seba amassed a vast collection of exotic natural objects by trading medicine and services to sailors at the port of Amsterdam as ships arrived from the […]
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is about to turn its oak-dappled woodland into a living, breathing canvas of taste with the return of the Mission Creek Beer Festival. On Saturday, October 18, 2025, this unique celebration of hops, food, and curiosity will transform the grounds into a flavor expedition unlike anything else on […]
A few are missing, but this skull has places for 50 teeth: the most of any terrestrial mammal in North America! These abundant and diversely shaped teeth served an adaptable, opportunistic animal: the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana). First introduced to California in 1910, they are now seen year-round in much of our region. Their abundance […]
