Wildlife Adventures - Rock On (Week 2)

On July 7th & 9th, the Bean Life Science Museum's Wildlife Adventures had a great time as we learned about rocks and minerals in this weeks adventure entitled "ROCK ON". We had a great time in the museum on Tuesday as we learned about the rock cycle and took a mini-field trip to the Eyering Science Center, where we saw a whole lot of different rock types and a load of fossils as well. On Thursday we put what we learned to the test and went off to see rocks in the wild as well as see the Rock cycle in action as we visited Cascade springs, a picturesque mountain retreat where erosion and weathering are shown up close and personal. Even though the weather turned a little sour, does that mean that wildlife adventures comes to an end? Of course not! They just find somewhere else to go adventuring! Adventures are to be had both indoors and outdoors, so we stopped by BYU's paleontology museum and saw more great examples of the rock cycle in both modern and ancient life. Now you may be asking yourself, "gosh darnet, why didn't i get to go on this fantastic rock-themed adventure? is there anything i can do to remedy my lack of adventurous experiences?" Well of course there is! Wildlife adventures continues! For more information on Wildlife Adventures and other museum activities please visit our website! Keep on rockin'!

Nathan, Museum Educator

Junior Naturalist Summer Camp

Junior Naturalist Summer Camp with Thanksgiving Point Institute

This was our first year for our new Junior Naturalist Camp! This camp was done jointly with Thanksgiving Point, so a big shout out to our friends at Thanksgiving Point! We couldn’t have done it without you.

This week was jam-packed with fun activities helping kids learn how to be a naturalist. They learned important biological principles all the while having a lot of fun! The camp was at the Bean Museum on Monday and Wednesday, and Thanksgiving point hosted on Tuesday and Thursday. We’re going to share a few things that happened here at the Bean Museum.

On Monday we learned about the role of observation in science. The kids learned about how to observe things and then we went out to go observe plants and animals outdoors. We used these super awesome beautiful notebooks to record our observations. They’re on sale at the Museum store if anyone wants one for themselves!

Later that day we learned about collecting plants and insects, and went out to go find some cool things in the great outdoors.

On Wednesday we had a great time exploring the research collections here at the Bean Museum, and learning about all the cool research that goes on there.

Later that day we learned how to display and mount the insects that were caught on Monday and to mount the plants that were collected. We had some very proud owners of new insect collections, complete with labels!

On Friday the kids were able to display and explain about all they learned this week at both Thanksgiving Point and the Bean Museum. They showed off their awesome insect collections, as well as their mounted plant specimens!

It was a great week! Thanks to everybody who participated in the awesome Junior Naturalist Camp! Even lunch breaks were fun! Hope to see lots of people there next year.

Jessica, museum educator

Nature Experienceship - Insects with Dr. Shawn Clark

For our Nature Experienceship this week Dr. Clark took us up Provo Canyon to South Fork Park. It was a pretty warm day, perfect for catching some insects. We headed off the beaten path into the brush and grasses. We also looked near a stream for more insects. We had sweeping nets that we used to sweep back and forth in the low-lying vegetation. By sweeping with the nets we were able to catch many of the small insects that live in the area. We found grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, box elder bugs, damsel flies, and many others. Dr. Clark is an expert in his field and was especially helpful in identifying and telling us more about the insects we found. After spending some time in the canyon, we drove back to the museum for a special tour of the insect collection. Dr. Clark showed us some of our favorite insects as well as some that he found interesting. The whole experienceship was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. 

Keith, Museum Educator

Wildlife Adventures - Water Wildlife

This week we had a great time learning about water wildlife during Wildlife Adventures, one of the many educational summer programs offered here at the Bean Life Science Museum. On Tuesday children were able to learn hands-on in the museum about water wildlife and wetlands, making crafts and studying animal specimens. Later they were able to "get their feet wet" so to speak (don't worry, no one fell in) on Thursday as we visited Bridal Veil Falls and other sites near Utah Lake. The kids enjoyed doing wildlife scavenger hunts and seeing wildlife face to face. Thanks to all the parents and kids who participated and just a reminder to everyone else that Wildlife Adventures keeps going starting on Tuesday, July 7th with our next adventure "Rock On" in which we will discuss minerals and the Rock Cycle and the important role they play in the lives of all living things! For information on registration and the rest of the programs offered at the Bean Life Science Museum, please see our website! mlbean.byu.edu

Nathan Hawks, museum educator

We need a name!

We have a new arachnid friend. She needs a name stat! Help us name our new rose-haired tarantula!

Behind the Scenes - The Insect Collection

We have a secret. What you see when you come here to the Bean Life Science Museum is only a fraction of what we actually have stored here. On display we have a few hundred animals for you to see. Behind the scenes, we over a million plants and animals! Want to see what is behind those closed doors?

The insect collection houses over 2 million insects! That’s a lot of creepy crawlies. The insect collection is just one of eight scientific collections here at the Bean Life Science Museum.

Why do we have so many insects? When Dr. Shawn Clark (the entomology collection manager) is asked this question, he reminds people that when you are talking about insects, you are dealing with a lot species. In fact, when you count all named species across all living things, there about the same number of insect species as everything else combined! We need a lot of insects just to get an accurate representation of what is out there.

This insect collection is used primarily for research.  Most of that research is on systematics which is the study of understanding how living things are related to each other.

How do we keep these specimens safe? Insects are collected and stored a variety of ways. Typically an insect is collected with nets or different kinds of traps.

Most insects are stored on pins. This works really well for insects since they have an external skeleton. The external skeleton won’t shrivel up when it’s dried. This means that a dried insect specimen on a pin looks just like the insect did when it was alive! It is, however, extremely fragile so they are never touched directly. If they are not stored on pins, insects can also be preserved in ethanol, envelopes, or microscope slides.

You can start your own insect collection easily at home. It’s fun and interesting to see the variety of insects all around us! Visit our museum store for supplies.

Nature Experienceship - Birding with Merrill Webb

7:30 on a Saturday morning is quite early for most to be out and about. But that does not stop us at the Bean Life Science Museum! We had bird specialist, Merrill Webb, leading us on an expedition to search for our national symbol, the Bald Eagle. They come from all over to winter in Utah, primarily to feed on migrating waterfowl as well as carp around Utah and the Great Salt Lake. Close to 15 people came together that morning and off we went to Lake Shore, a little farming community on the south eatern shore of Utah lake. As the sun rose over the Wasatch mountains we searched for eagles. They roost in trees during the night and they leave early in the morning. We wanted to find them before they took off. After winding through the farm roads in the distance there was a cluster of cottonwood trees, and in those trees Mr. Webb spots a lone eagle. This was one of the five eagles that has been spotted in the area. It had a brilliant white head and tail with a dark brown, almost black body. People quietly slipped out of the vehicles trying to contain their excitement. Spotting scopes were put up and binoculars were hanging around necks. It was a chilly morning but it didn't seem to bother anyone as we watched this beautiful creature. The eagle stayed in the tree for some time. People took pictures through the scope with their smart phones and eventually the eagle took off, displaying that large 7 foot wingspan and flew away. After the main attraction we went about utah county to Salem and back to Provo. During that time we saw red tail hawks, ring neck pheasents, american kestrels, canada geese, mallards, golden eyes, wood ducks, lesser scaups, gadawalls, magpies, grackels and another rare bird, the lewis' woodpecker. 

All enjoyed the enthusiasm of Mr. Webb and his vast knowledge  of the avian world. Those there were excited to see what was out there. None left feeling that their early morning was a waste. 

Colton, Museum