How do you mail a 37-foot totem pole? With a flatbed truck - and your help! Take part in our effort to bring a remarkable story pole back to the Northwest.
Each year we bug out as thousands of specimens, dead and alive, crawl to the Burke Museum for this favorite annual family event.
How do we really know what happened before we were here? At the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, we bring together people, objects, and the stories that make them meaningful.
Burke members and guests had a wonderful time exploring the Plastics Unwrapped exhibit at the opening party in early January 2013. Photos by Lora Shinn.
Burke Members had a great time going behind-the-scenes in our collections where they discovered new objects, talked with curators, and learned about our cutting-edge research. Photos by Andrew Waits.
Fishes collection manager, Katherine Maslenikov, takes SpaceSaver on a tour of the Fishes collection at the University of Washington.
Sharlene Santana is an evolutionary biologist and the new curator of mammals here at the Burke Museum. She studies how behavior, diet, anatomy and function result in bursts of diversification in tropical bats -- mostly from Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela. While Sharlene releases most of the bats she studies in the field, she collects some specimens to help preserve the biodiversity of these increasingly threatened habitats.
Photographer TJ Watt regularly explores the remaining old-growth rainforests on Vancouver Island, B.C. These are some of the world's most spectacular old-growth temperate (non-tropical) rainforests, where trees have trunks as wide as living rooms and grow as tall as skyscrapers. Sadly, 75% of the island's productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms. While hiking in March 2010, he took a photograph now known as "Last Stands."
The Burke's fossil preparator, Bruce Crowley and a team of volunteers excavated a giant turtle - but finding it was only the beginning. We set up a camera to capture time-lapse video as our staff and volunteers prep the giant turtle in our fossil lab to show just what it takes to uncover the turtle.
Photographer Cheryl-Samantha Owen recently documented a Cape Gannet rescue effort lead by the group SANCCOB in South Africa. This is her conservation story.
Studying the evolution of plants and climate change's impact on vegetation helps us better understand how our modern ecosystem evolved to be what it is today. Follow Regan Dunn, a graduate student in the University of Washington's Department of Biology, as she collects fossil plant remains in Costa Rica as part of a study with Burke Museum curator Caroline Strömberg.
Our members were able to preview the ICP Awards exhibit before it was open to the public and mingle with several of the award-winning photographers.
One night a year, Burke members are invited behind the scenes of the museum. Behind-the-Scenes Night is an exclusive opportunity for members to see the Burke collections, meet curators and collection managers, and learn about current research. Members will discover every Burke division, including the Herbarium, archaeology, ornithology (birds), ethnology, ichthyology (fish), mammalogy, paleobotany, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, and entomology (spiders & insects).
Visitors accessed Burke knowledge on the natural and cultural world by bringing their heirlooms and objects on Artifact ID Day. Burke experts examined items ranging from fossils to Pacific Northwest Native American art. A record turnout with incredible objects made this year's Artifact ID Day a lively event!
Ever wanted to touch an otter? See a full-sized lion up close? These are just a few experiences visitors had at this year's annual family event, Meet the Mammals. Hundreds of specimens from the Burke's mammalogy collections were on display, with experts on-hand to answer questions.
This year’s annual Archaeology Day focused on the last Ice Age. Visitors of all ages threw atlatls, touched artifacts, and learned how Clovis points were made.
University of Washington Daily's "Double Shot" came to the Burke Museum's mammalogy collections to learn more about the squirrels on campus. They spoke with Collections Manager Jeff Bradley about the changes in the local squirrel populations over time.
Much fun had at this year’s Bug Blast! Visitors got to hold live bugs, see our Entomology collections, and talk with Burke experts.
Visitors enjoyed a day of colorful crafts, music, and programs about Carnivals around the world while exploring the ¡Carnaval! exhibit.
By Robin K. WrightSince its debut in 1975, people have been speculating about the design influence for the Seattle Seahawks team logo, but until recently, a specific object that most likely inspired the… Full post »
By Rod CrawfordOut of Washington's 920+ spider species, 50+ harvestman species, and goodness knows how many mites and pseudoscorpions, these are two of the strangest-looking arachnids I've seen so far!Acuclavella… Full post »
A week before Typhoon Haiyan battered the central Philippines, seven heritage enthusiasts from Palawan Island came to Seattle to learn about archaeology, community-based museums and heritage tourism, and… Full post »
The face of a vervet monkey illustrating the procedureused to characterize facial color pattern complexity. Illustration by Sharlene E. Santana.Monkeys have the most colorful faces of all mammals, and… Full post »
This 37-foot story pole stood prominently for nearly 70 years in Krape Park in Freeport, Illinois. Photo courtesy of the Freeport Park District.It's colorful carvings represent interrelated stories… Full post »
Every August and September, people ask spider researchers, "why are there so many more spiders this year than usual?" This time of year is when people notice spiders more frequently, but that… Full post »
