NEWS

It gives me great pleasure to present the 2021–2023 Strategic Plan for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS). Despite the challenges of being closed to the public during much of the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have achieved many important outcomes. The Friends of NCMNS announced the acquisition of “Dueling Dinosaurs,”… Read More >

Skull of Mobaceras zambeziense in dorsal view (left) and lateral view (right). Museum paleontologist Christian Kammerer has described Mobaceras zambeziense, a new, bizarrely-horned predator from the Permian of Zambia (roughly 260 million years ago). A type of early synapsid (“protomammals” distantly related to modern mammals), Mobaceras was part of the diverse animal fauna that existed… Read More >

By Greg Skupien, Naturalist Center Curator Antlers are one of the most amazing structures in the animal kingdom. All animals in the deer family, Cervidae, have antlers. Typically, only the males possess them. Female Caribou (Reindeer) are an exception, as they sport antlers alongside the males. Antlers are thought to have evolved primarily for intraspecific combat. That… Read More >

By Martha Flanagan, Head of the Living Conservatory and Arthropod Zoo A pair of mating cattleheart butterflies in the Living Conservatory. This week, couples around the world celebrated Valentine’s Day, as did some of our friends who reside in the Museum’s Living Conservatory. Guests have regularly observed butterflies mating in the Conservatory but are often… Read More >

Characterizing the community of a reclaimed tropical forest Squirrel Monkey. Museum ornithologist, Brian O’Shea, and Head of the Biodiversity Research Lab, Roland Kays and colleagues, have published research on the impact of urbanization on mammals in the Neotropics in the journal Tropical Ecology. Read the Article here Museum Ornithologist Brian O’Shea shares some additional information… Read More >