NEWS

Golden-backed Snipe Fly. Photo: B. Waller. All That Glitters Might Be Gold By Colin Brammer, Coordinator of the Natural World Investigate Lab Recently, one of our sharp-eyed visitors at Prairie Ridge Ecostation noticed a fly “adorned with gold filagree-like structure on its back.”  What they saw was a Golden-backed Snipe Fly, Chrysopilus thoracicus.  The name… Read More >

The Museum’s Research Curator of Paleontology, Christian Kammerer, has co-authored a new paper: “Cranial anatomy of Bolotridon frerensis, an enigmatic cynodont from the Middle Triassic of South Africa, and its phylogenetic significance,” published in the journal PeerJ on June 16, 2021. Bolotridon was historically one of the most poorly-known cynodonts (a group of synapsids, or… Read More >

A close-up image of Kiara the lioness. Photo: Kathy Patterson. By Lisa Gatens, Collections Manager for Mammalogy, and Micah Beasley, PR & Marketing Coordinator In January 2020, The Conservators Center, a zoological park in Burlington, NC, announced the death of a beloved lioness named Kiara. Almost 17 years ago, Kiara, along with 13 other lions… Read More >

The competitive North Carolina Science Museums Grant Program is one of the many ways that the State of North Carolina invests in sustaining and advancing one of the most diverse and widespread networks of science museums in the country. These museums are critical resources for schools and communities in providing learning experiences in and out… Read More >

By Colin Brammer, PhD, Coordinator of the Natural World Investigate Lab Often one wonders what the difference is between butterflies and moths.  They are all just bugs, aren’t they? While native English speakers have two distinct words for the seemingly separate insects, The French, linguistically, consider them the same. Papillon is French for butterfly.  Moth,… Read More >