Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History

02/01/2024

01/08/2024

Happy New Year! Celebration 2024 is fast approaching! With Emmy Awardee Dr. Jim Porter on hand to discuss specimens on display from the museum’s extensive coral collection, Celebration 2024 on Saturday, January 27th in the UGA Special Collections Library will be a unique experience.

Tickets are going fast and are only available online here: https://www.gmnhfriends.org/event-5383377

08/02/2023

Please join our friends at the Bartram Trail Conference as they mark the Semiquincentennial of naturalist William Bartram's travels. The conference will be held Friday and Saturday August 4-5 in Athens, Ga at the UGA Special Collections Library.

Registration for lectures and sponsored tours on Saturday is still available, and will feature GMNH director Dr. Bud Freeman's talk "Finding Bartram's Fish." Please see links below for a full schedule of events and more information.

Georgia Museum of Natural HistoryEnvironmental Ethics Certificate ProgramCollege of Environment and DesignState Botanical Garden of GeorgiaFriends of Ashantilly

07/11/2023

Tonight we welcome back to our upstairs. What a nice change of pace they bring with them! Who should we be reading this evening?

While we are still editing our second level a bit, we hope to have it open to everyone quite soon. It has been nice to have it to ourselves though!

06/06/2023

A small gesture to show our appreciation for Astrud Gilberto and the character of her warm and calm voice. One of the greatest. Come enjoy a little sip in her honor!

05/01/2023

Hey all, another reminder of our May 6 Annual Meeting! 1pm at the GMNH Annex (4435 Atlanta Highway), come gather with the Friends and revisit our amazing collection of marine mammals, fishes, corals and more!

Light fare and beverages served, please bring a friend so they learn more about our mission!

05/01/2023

Painting by Philip Juras of a foggy morning in Somme Prairie Grove, Northbrook, Illinois.

04/17/2023

Here's a recent article on the museum. Check out the slideshow and captions!

https://research.uga.edu/news/a-collection-of-collections-the-expansive-world-of-the-georgia-natural-history-museum/?fbclid=IwAR1RevKAsg_b6yaH78sKvqrFfHcAYF7gwAynT5mWm6AQCewlFkLQ4Fiha8w -projects-trainings/?fbclid=IwAR3o6nPIk4C-vT_dFTgD1LrSRA4yJDL-z3AeEzQ_LoDDR0rm27pYSyu71OE

The Georgia Natural History Museum is a hidden wonder on the University of Georgia’s campus. While driving on East Campus Road, you may have spotted the signature great white shark replica adorning the side of its home. But did you know what treasures of the natural world lie inside that small bri...

03/05/2023

What a night! After a three-year hiatus, we gathered together once more to celebrate the awe and wonder of the natural world and the Georgia Museum of Natural History.

Our spirits soared to the wise and brilliant words of writer, ornithologist, and MacArthur Fellow Dr. J. Drew Lanham. Deepest gratitude to Dr. Lanham for his presence and eloquence.

Thanks so very much to all of you for your continued support of GMNH, and we hope to see you again soon!

On March 4, the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History gathered at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia with special guest speaker Joseph Drew Lanham, renowned writer and

02/02/2023

Happy Groundhog Day! Keep reading for fun facts to hold you over for the next 6 weeks of winter!

1. Groundhogs are the largest member of the squirrel family Sciuridae.

2. They are found in Eastern and Central America, but can also be found northward into Canada and Alaska, as well.

3. They live in meadows, open fields, along roads and streams, along forest edges, and sometimes in dense forests.

4. In the winter, they hibernate by digging and burrowing into the ground using their specialized shovel-like claws. After losing up to half their weight while hibernating, groundhogs usually emerge from their winter burrows in February– this is the part of their
behavior that has led to North American Groundhog Day tradition!

5. They are often referred to as woodchucks, and this word
comes from a Native American word, wuchak,
which roughly translates as "digger." Other fun names are land beaver, chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, and red monk.

6. They are herbivorous, and their diet consists of fruit, plants, tree bark and grasses.

7. Their lifespan can range from 6 years in the wild to 14 years in captivity.

8. A Cornell University Biologist set out to answer the infamous question of “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” and discovered that it was around 700 pounds (317 kg)!

01/28/2023

01/08/2023

Would y’all like it if we had a fossil display?