As students at the University of British Columbia, there are many unique and interesting opportunities at our fingertips. However, all too often we do not actually take advantage of these experiences our school freely offers. Thousands of students walk past the big blue whale skeleton every day, yet, few take the time to visit the museum and discover the two million specimens housed in 20,000 square feet beneath the ground. The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver’s natural history museum, dedicated to creating a shared sense of community and wonder, and I believe every UBC student needs peruse through the beautiful, compelling exhibits at least once before graduation.
Public Domain: The Blue Whale Skeleton
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum opened in October 2010. For the first time, the museum put UBC’s natural history collections on public view. Among the treasures are a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton, the third-largest fish collection in the nation, and myriad fossils, shells, insects, fungi, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants from around British Columbia and the world.
Humanity is embedded in a biodiverse world, and the museum illuminates how biodiversity evolved, how it is maintained, why it matters to humans, and how we can conserve it. Science studies life’s diversity and since the early 20th century, biologists at UBC have archived specimens of the many species they have studied. During the past decades, UBC has become one of the world’s leading universities in biodiversity research, as scientists strived to save the precious information their research uncovered about species and ecosystems of the past and present.
Find out more about the museum on the following episode of the Express. (Start clip from 7:06).
All this being said, the museum is much more than just its exhibits. Through hands-on activities, educators’ resources, public presentations, and community and cultural engagement, the museum works to advance understanding of the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. There are also unique opportunities to volunteer at the Beaty:
- Museum Educators engage museum visitors in the wonder of biodiversity through a variety of activities, kids programs, museum specimens, and storytelling.
- Nature Club Assistants work with children in the after-school club. They deliver educational programming and assist children with creative, self-guided projects.
- Events Assistants provide support during a wide range of museum special events, including lectures and evening functions.
If you are interested in applying for any of these roles, be sure to visit the Volunteer Page on the Beaty Biodiversity Museum website for more information.
Overall, I hope you accept my challenge to visit the museum – attend an event or take a tour – and discover the biological collections that are the centrepiece of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. After all, the Beaty is like one enormous Science 300 Outreach Project: The unique combination of world-class, university-based research and beautiful, intriguing exhibits makes the research conducted by UBC scientists more accessible and more relevant to the public. One could say that communicating science just became that much more real.
Visit the museum, don’t just stand outside and ask questions like the two students at 2:47.
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