Subscribe to our email list
Share this:
Whale header image and Beaty logo
Dear Museum Supporter...
Autumn sheds a new light on the biodiversity in our backyards, revealing rich colours, new smells, and different active organisms. At the museum, we also shed a new light on our biodiversity programming. Join us this fall and winter for a new puppet show, tour, and Naturalist 101 activity. 
Our newest exhibit, Backyard Biodiversity, features illustrations and stories from books written in BC. Explore the diversity of stories and themes amongst a variety of hands-on activities, appropriate for visitors of all ages.
The museum is open daily up to and including Monday, October 13. After October 14, the museum will be closed on Mondays for research. What kind of research do we do? Follow us on instagram or twitter to reveal what happens behind-the-scenes on #museummonday.
See you soon!
What's New  
Starting October 9, our Backyard Biodiversity program is getting an update. Join us for a new puppet show, Naturalist 101 activity, and tour.
There’s a crisis in the city! Bumblebee can’t find enough flowers to visit. Through the help of animal superheroes, we’ll discover something we can do to help bees out in the city. Uncover the mystery, weekends at our 10:30 a.m. puppet show: Bee my Superhero. 
How much do you know about birds of prey in BC? Develop your birding and naturalist skills through a series of activities designed to help you identify common birds. Discover the amazing world of hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons with our education team in Naturalist 101, daily at 12:30 p.m
Events
One of the hummingbirds you can see in the exhibit  
September 
Backyard Biodiversity Exhibition Opening!
Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.  
Help us kick off our newest exhibition, Backyard Biodiversity, on Saturday, September 27th. 
Activities will run from 12:00pm – 3:00pm, with readings at 12:00pm and at 1:30pm.
Come enjoy the stories, poetry, and general antics of Shar Levine & Leslie JohnstoneLori Sherritt-FlemingTiffany StoneMelanie Jackson, and Carol McDougall.
This exhibition is in partnership with the Children's Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia Society
Join the conversation and use #BackyardBooks on Twitter & Instagram when talking about the exhibition. Tag us @beatymuseum. 
October 
Laysan Island is way cool because....
Sunday, October 5, 2014 | 1:00 p.m.
Laysan is the largest and most biologically diverse island in the Northwestern Hawiian Archipelago: one of the most remote and spectacular wildernesses on earth. Join Ian Thomas, an avid naturalist, to learn about one of the world's most important seabird colonies, home of endangered songbirds, endemic plants, and the rarest duck on earth.

Ask an Expert about Cordage
Sunday, October 5, 2014 | 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 
Ask expert Saskia Wolsak about cordage (i.e. rope) - it is one of the earliest of humanity's skills, perhaps predating fire. Cordage is traditionally made of wide range plant fibres. We commonly have string and rope made of sisal, cotton, hemp, flax, manila, Jute, and various grasses. 

Apple Festival at UBC Botanical Garden 
Saturday, October, 18 - Sunday, October 19, 2014 | 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. 
A family event for all ages, the UBC Apple Festival celebrates one of British Columbia's favourite fruits. The Apple Festival is a great opportunity to not only discover more about this delicious fruit, but have a whole lot of fun doing it. We'll be at the Festival with our touchable collection of specimens. Visit us to touch an owl wing, see a seahorse, inspect a 10 million year old fossil and more!

Campus Walk  –  Native Plants 
Saturday, October 18, 2014 | 10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. 
Walk to locations on campus where native plants can be seen in their natural setting. Learn about the taxonomy, ecology and the traditional First Nation uses of each species.

Open House for Teachers 
Friday, October 24, 2014 | 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 
Come to the museum for a professional development day. Learn how we can support your lessons with curriculum links in our exhibits, activities and programs. Free for teachers with Teacher Federation or Association ID. Register to attend. 

Halloween Costume Contest 
Friday, October 31, 2014 | 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 
Dress up as your favourite plant or animal for your visit. We will photograph your costume and put it up on our Facebook page. Can’t make it to the Museum that day? Email a picture of your costume to beaty.marketing@ubc.ca by Sunday November 2nd to enter the contest. Our Facebook Followers will be asked to vote for their favourite by “liking” the photo. The photo with the most likes by Friday November 7th will win a Beaty Biodiversity Museum T-shirt!
November
Mushroom Walk  
Saturday, November 1, 2014 | 2:15 p.m. 
With the fall rains, many BC fungi erupt from the ground to present a spectacular display of mushrooms. If you like mushrooms and want to learn more about them, join us, rain or shine, for an exploration of mushrooms and a walk through the UBC campus. 

Berries are way cool because....
Sunday, November 2, 2014 | 1:00 p.m.
Through a closer look at berries, Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe will take you on a search for the sweet spot in the northern biocultural system.

Ask an Expert about Marine Bivalves (shellfish)
Sunday, November 2, 2014 | 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 
Find out more about shellfish from the author of Explore the Rocky Shore at Stanley Park (published by Nature Vancouver), Sheila Byers. Bring in photos of your favourite or mystery shellfish. 

Pure Beaty: Science and Your Inner Artist 
Thursday November 13, 2014 | 1:00 p.m. 
Three UBC researchers — microbiologists Patrick Keeling and Erick James and zoologist Bridgette Clarkston — discuss how they translate their science into art by producing giant microbe statues, jewellery with binary messages, and macro photographs
Exhibits
Pack up the kids and come to the Beaty on Saturday, September 27th to celebrate the opening of Backyard Biodiversity. Our exhibition about children's nature books and illustration will kick off with readings by BC authors, as well as kid-friendly art and writing activities, and of course, you can explore the exhibition's books, illustrations, and plant and animal specimens. This is your chance to read, write, draw and discover BC's nature through the stories and illustrations of BC authors and artists.
    Activities will run from 12:00pm – 3:00pm, with readings at 12:00pm and at 1:30pm. Come enjoy the stories, poetry, and general antics of Shar Levine & Leslie JohnstoneLori Sherritt-FlemingTiffany StoneMelanie Jackson, and Carol McDougall.
    This exhibition is in partnership with the Children's Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia Society
    Join the conversation and use #BackyardBooks on Twitter & Instagram when talking about the exhibition. Tag us @beatymuseum. 
    School and Teacher Programs 
    Booking a school program is now easier than ever. Simply visit our website to book one of twenty different group experiences, including four new offerings for this school year:
    Join our Professional Development day on Friday, October 24, to learn about the programs the museum offers, and how to use the museum for your teaching. Learn more and register to attend. 
    Behind the Scenes 
    This month we are featuring our Work-Learn students in the Herbarium - Saskia Wolsak and Jasmine Lai. 
    Saskia Wolsak
    After working here as a staff member in 2013, I am thrilled to be back at the herbarium as a work-learn student. I particularly appreciate the quiet, focused environment, surrounded by plants, knowledge, and interesting people. Working at the herbarium is like helping to keep a great ship sailing - a ship that has been sailing for almost a hundred years. The tasks are varied, and there is always something to do, from pulling specimens, to making images, to helping researchers navigate the collections. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of a great system of learning such as this, and to contribute to the growth and longevity of this valuable resource in whatever way I can.
    Jasmine Lai
    Perhaps it's the floral name? I naturally gravitated towards working at the Herbarium. Over the course of the summer I handled the magnolia collection. Most of the time our work is hidden behind cabinets or thick freezer doors, never seeing the light of day. Behind  the secretive "staff do not enter doors" we mount, fix, short, categorize and database all the donated or collected plant specimens. I love meeting and working with all the amazing people who maintain this collection. There is always something new to learn everyday I come into work.
    Window into the Collection
    You've probably been noticing mushrooms popping up now that the rain has begun. We've got a few mushrooms here at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum - 26,771 to be exact. Some of our mushrooms are new species records for BC (meaning they have never been seen here before) while others are new to science (they have never been seen anywhere before). Mushrooms are important because they recycle plants after they die and transform them into rich soil. If not for mushrooms and fungi, the Earth would be buried in several feet of debris and life on the planet would soon disappear. 
    Learn more about mushrooms on our Mushroom Walk on Saturday, November 1st and read our blog post about the most recent addition to the mushroom collection.  
    Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
    Hours
    Until October 13th Monday-Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    After October 13th Tuesday-Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed Mondays for research).
    Membership
    A Beaty Biodiversity Museum membership means joining and supporting a lively community of people inspired by biodiversity, engaged with the natural world, and dedicated to conservation.
     
    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.


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


    powered by emma