Dan Russell of the California Raptor Center on Old Davis Road, UC Davis, showing a red-tailed hawk at the 2025 UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

DAVIS, CA (MPG) – The 15th Annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set for Saturday, Feb. 21 and featuring 12 museums or collections across campus, is a "Super Science Day" where you can watch a carnivorous plant eat a fly, pet a stick insect, photograph a bald eagle, time-travel two billion years, stare down a T. rex, learn how to plant a pollinator garden, try your hand at flintnapping, laugh at yeast jokes and take home seed cookies for the pollinators. 

The event, free and family-friendly, and within a time frame of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is a place where visitors can engage one-on-one with scientists. It is a day to discover, explore and connect, said committee chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Participating museums are as follows.

 The Anthropology Museum, open noon to 4 p.m., is temporarily housed in Wickson Hall, West Entrance, while Young Hall is undergoing renovations. 

Arboretum and Public Garden, open noon to 4 p.m. is located at Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway.

Bee Haven, 1 Bee Biology Road, off Hutchison, then Hopkins Road is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124, Academic Surge Building, and hallway, 455 Crocker Lane is open noon to 4 p.m.

Botanical Conservatory, Kleiber Hall Drive, is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

California Raptor Center, 1340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Center for Plant Diversity, 1026 Katherine Esau Science Hall, is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Design Museum, 124 Cruess Hall, 375 California Ave. is open noon to 4 p.m.

Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Nematode Collection, 1026 Katherine Esau Science Hall is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Paleontology Collection, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Room 1309, Crocker Lane is open noon to 4 p.m.

Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing Facility is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Special Attraction: Speakers' Series

There will be a speakers' series from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Silverado Vineyards' Sensory Theatre of the Sensory Building, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road. The schedule:

4 p.m.: Pallavi Shakya, doctoral candidate, lab of nematologist Shahid Siddique, "Into the Nematode World."

4:15 p.m.: Samantha "Sam" Murray, education and garden coordinator of The Bee Haven and member of the bee lab of Elina Niño, who will present "Creating Your Own Pollinator Haven"

4:30 p.m.: Tracy Thomson, UC Davis Earth and Planetary Sciences, research assistant, "Hobnobbing in the Cretaceous: What's Up With Dinosaur Forelimbs?" He will present a new hypothesis about the function of alvarezsaurid or long-legged dinosaurs.

4:45 p.m.: Kyria Boundy-Mills, collection curator and research microbiologist, Phaff Yeast Collection. "Creative Uses of Yeasts." 

Samantha Murray, education and garden coordinator of the UC Davis Bee Haven, sits next to "Miss Bee Haven," a worker bee sculptor by Donna Billick that anchors the haven. The half-acre pollinator and demonstration garden will be open for tours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21, the 15th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

More than 300 faculty, students and staff will be staffing the displays. Maps can be downloaded on the website at https://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/ and will be available onsite. Food vendor trucks will be parked by the Katherine Esau Science Hall.

For a summary of the events, see the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website at https://tinyurl.com/y8a9wf2s

For those who wish to donate funds to support this free and family friendly event, the donation page  is at https://give.ucdavis.edu/CAES/BIOFUND.