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In this issue:

Museum Hours 
Monday - Sunday
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Summer hours have arrived. We are now open seven days a week. 

Visit our website for more information and what's on at the museum.
The Herbarium Project
May 16 - August 24, 2014

Artist Karen Yurkovich re-examines specimens from the UBC Herbarium through their aesthetics, symbolism, mythologies and histories. Read more about this art exhibition here.

Alumni Weekend
Thanks for coming to Alumni Weekend! We've posted some photos from the day on our Facebook Page
Become a Member

A Beaty membership means joining and supporting a lively community of people inspired by biodiversity, engaged with the natural world, and dedicated to conservation.

The best way to enjoy everything the museum has to offer is through membership. Benefits include year-round admission to our world-class museum, with over 500 permanent exhibits, rotating art exhibits, tours, activities, crafts, and more. - See more at: http://beatymuseum-dev.webi.it.ubc.ca/join#sthash.X1whOhOq.dpuf

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum membership program offers great benefits to our supporters, including year-round admission to our world-class museum, with over 500 permanent exhibits, rotating art exhibits, tours, activities, crafts, and more.
The best way to enjoy everything the museum has to offer is through membership. A Beaty membership also means joining and supporting a lively community of people inspired by biodiversity, engaged with the natural world, and dedicated to conservation.
Learn more about museum membership.
About the Museum
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum strives to inspire an understanding of biodiversity, its origins, and importance to humans through collections-based research, education and outreach.
As Vancouver’s natural history museum, we work to promote a greater sense of collective responsibility for the biodiversity of British Columbia, Canada, and the world. 

Peer into cabinets and open drawers of the University's working research collection. Among our two million treasured specimens are a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton suspended in the atrium, the third-largest fish collection in Canada, and myriad fossils, shells, insects, fungi, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants from around BC and across the world. 

Dear Museum Supporter...
As the school year comes to a close, many of us choose to make plans for the summer time: travelling, camping, hiking, picnics, bike rides, and more! Visit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum to inspire you to discover the amazing biodiversity on this planet, and help you decide where your next journey may take you. You’ll be surprised what you can uncover during a short park visit within your home city.
Each of our collections features incredible organisms that make the Lower Mainland their home. We hope you will take the time to view them at the museum, observe them in their natural habitats, and help conserve their ecosystems for future generations to enjoy.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
Find us on Instagram  
You can now find us on Instagram - a popular image based social media platform. Follow us @beatymuseum and use #beatymuseum when you take photos at the Museum so we can like and comment on your images. 
Summer Students at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum  
This summer, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum is employing a number of students thanks to the generous support of the University of British Columbia, Centre for Student Involvement & Careers as well as Canadian Heritage and the Young Canada Works Program. Both of these programs support and subsidize meaningful work experiences so students may build skills and grow their professional network. Positions are based within Administration, Exhibits & Design, Herbarium, Cowan Tetrapod Collection and the Spencer Entomology Collection. Read below for one student’s perspective on his time with the Museum.
Charles Leung
As a current 3rd year Geography student not only do I study the interactions between life on Earth and its environment, I also study the changing social, economic and cultural aspects of human behavior that shape the society and its geographical area. Having enrolled in the Work-Learn program at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum as an Administrative Assistant, I am thrilled to apply my knowledge in practical settings where I can develop professional skills and learn from an interactive working environment that at the same time contributes to my personal learning and career goals.
From this opportunity I hope to gain a sense of self-awareness and responsibility of work where I can reflect and build on a foundation of experiences. By the end of my work term I hope to have created a network of support of museum staff and gained effective communication techniques as well as marketing and administrative skills. #UBCWorkLearn #IsupportBBM
Way Cool Biodiversity Series
First Sunday of every month  |  1:00 p.m.
The popular Way Cool Biodiversity Series runs the first Sunday of every month. This series is appropriate for visitors of all ages and backgrounds, and is included with admission or membership. Keep notes! We will ask you to pick your favourite at the end of the year.

Ocean Viruses are way cool because…
Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

They come in all shapes and sizes, and far outnumber the known stars in our universe! Viruses are found throughout the ocean - from the surface waters down to the crust below the seafloor. Despite their small size, they have critical roles wherever they live and are important to the complex food webs we rely on for our own food. Join Cheryl Chow, Post-Doctoral Fellow in UBC's Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, in learning about the microscopic, but mega-important, world within the ocean.

Freeze tolerance is way cool because...
Sunday, July 6, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

Canada's winters can get mighty chilly, and in response, Canada's animals have evolved many strategies to cope. One of the most impressive is the ability to survive freezing solid during the winter. An eclectic array of animals including frogs, turtles, woolly caterpillars, and Vancouver's own mussels can survive internal ice formation. How and why do they do it? Katie Marshall, Killam Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Zoology will chill you with tales of extreme adaptation.

This is part of the Way Cool Biodiversity Series.
Photo credit: Cheryl Chow
Backyard Biodiversity  
There are myriad sources of inspiration in our backyards – textures, stories, interactions, shapes, colours, and more! Step into the Discovery Lab to let your creative side take over. Visitors of all ages can get hands-on in the lab through our new stations: exploring writing, making, magnifying, crafting, and getting up close to real museum specimens.
After you visit the Discovery Lab, be sure to explore The Herbarium Project, and ponder the inspiration behind Karen Yurkovich’s work. Our Backyard Biodiversity theme includes museum tours, scavenger hunts, and more – check out our website for details
A Window into the Collection...
The media has been simply swimming with stories of the blue whales that washed ashore in Newfoundland. Stories about whether they would explode, about plans to bring two to the Royal Ontario Museum, and later about how costs were so high that they decided only to take one have been filling headlines.
For any of you who are wondering how to turn a whale into a museum exhibit, you are in luck - the Beaty has (obviously) already done it, and we are ready to tell you how. From the comfort of your own home, you can read and watch videos of the project that brought Big Blue to the Beaty. But if you come to the museum, you can watch the documentary Raising Big Blue, and best of all, talk to our volunteers to learn more about these amazing creatures


2212 Main Mall University of British Columbia | Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4 CA


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