Did you know you can visit the Museum online instead of in person? While we’re practicing social distancing you can explore our online exhibits, YouTube playlists, news and blogs to keep inspired about science and nature. There’s a lot here that you might not know about!
Our website is vast, with many thousands of pages and millions of specimens to explore. If we could create a greatest hits album, this would be it.
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Your support means the world to us and helps the Florida Museum inspire people to care about life on Earth with free educational programs and resources. If you are able, please consider donating to support these programs, either through purchasing a Museum membership or by making a gift.
Science + Research News
We have hundreds of news articles about scientific discoveries here at the Florida Museum in our Science News site. Some of our newest articles:
These moths are one of Hawaii’s oldest animal groups. Can they survive the next century?
Akito Kawahara was snapping pictures at a scenic outlook in Hawaii when he spotted the moth equivalent of a dodo.…
Extinct Caribbean bird’s closest relatives hail from Africa, South Pacific
In a genetic surprise, ancient DNA shows the closest family members of an extinct bird known as the Haitian cave-rail…
Escape artists: Birds learn to avoid flashy, hard-to-catch butterflies and their lookalikes
The showy colors of some butterflies could advertise their speed and nimbleness, much like a coat of bright yellow paint…
Browse more Science + Research News
Some reader favorites:
Forgotten for decades, rediscovered watercolor collection features hundreds of Florida plants
Artist Minna Fernald donated over 320 paintings of Florida wildflowers to the university in 1942, providing a rich record of the state’s past ecological life. Read the story or browse the paintings digitized by UF Libraries.
A kaleidoscope of monarchs: Marveling at one of nature’s greatest journeys
Every fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies travel nearly 3,000 miles across the U.S. to the sacred fir forests of Central Mexico to wait for winter to soften into spring. Read more about this adventure to meet the monarchs in Mexico.
Fore easy reading bite-size posts about clover, megalodon, bats, air potatoes and more, check out our Five Facts series.
Videos
Museum 360: Florida Fossil Hall
Bruce MacFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology and Director of the Thompson Earth Systems Institute, gave a virtual tour of our fossil hall, with stops at some of Florida’s significant species. Watch the video tour
Our paleontologist Jonathan Bloch was just a guest on a NOVA episode that revealed the bizarre history and explores the future of Earth’s poles. Stream the two hour episode here.
The Taino myth of the cursed creator (story + video)
Florida Museum YouTube channel
We have hundreds of videos on our YouTube channel to explore, including scientific research within our Museum, and research projects across University of Florida’s campus. Some highlights:
The Woodpecker Story: An Indigenous Parable
On Tiny Wings: the monarch migration
Tiger beetles: fierce hunters, fast movers
Butterfly Rainforest Moments:
We have the cutest quail in our exhibit!
Curious about our quail? If you’ve been in our Butterfly Rainforest exhibit lately, you probably saw at least one of…
Butterfly Rainforest Moment: How do they taste?
Spend a moment in our Butterfly Rainforest with Ryan talking about how butterflies taste. Specifically, how they sense potential host…
Butterfly Rainforest Moment, Cocoon vs. Chrysalis
Spend a moment in our Butterfly Rainforest with Ryan talking about pupa—the stage where caterpillars transform into butterflies and months.…
Skeleton video series:
Playlist: Museum Research News
From shark teeth to fossils to moths that build houses out of poop, our research video playlist has a little something science-y for everyone:
Florida Museum on YouTube Museum Research Playlist
MESS Early Childhood Curriculum
Download comprehensive guides designed to help teachers and parents support children’s early science explorations and foster language development, literacy, problem solving, curiosity and motivation, and general knowledge through science experiences.
MESS GuidesOnline Exhibits + Exploration
We’ve recently uploaded more exhibits from the Museum to our online exhibit space so you can check out Women of the Everglades and Hope for the Humpbacks from your computer of mobile device. We’re working on even more to help you #MuseumFromHome! Browse Online Exhibits
Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating: 100 Years @FloridaMuseum
In 2017 we celebrated out 100th anniversary with an exhibit highlighting a selection of objects from our collections of over 40 million specimens, artifacts and cultural items. The exhibit has closed but you can still browse the objects and listen to a story about each one as told by the scientists and students who know them best.
Students often learn in history class that the Spaniards brought horses to the New World in the 1500s, but the fossil record shows horses actually originated in North America at least 55 million years ago and roamed the continent before becoming extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.
St. Augustine: America’s Ancient City
Over the two turbulent centuries between St. Augustine’s founding and the departure of the Spaniards in 1763, the city was home to Spaniards, American-born Spanish (criollos), American Indians, Africans and mixed-blood people. Together they created a lively multi-cultural and multiethnic society that was unique in colonial North America.
Fort Mose: America’s Black Colonial Fortress of Freedom
More than 250 years ago, African-born slaves risked their lives to escape English plantations in Carolina and find freedom among the Spanish living at St. Augustine. Learn more about the discovery and research that brought Fort Mose to light.
Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida Gallery
This searchable gallery includes 220 entries of Florida freshwater fishes, each with a live image, key characteristics for field identification and habitat description. It is is based on the “Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida” guide.
Florida Vertebrate Fossils: Fossil Species of Florida
Over 1,000 different species of vertebrate animals are known to have lived in Florida over the past 35 million years. Florida has the richest fossil record of vertebrate animals of the eastern United States. Explore extinct species, significant fossil sites in Florida and more!
Learn about fishes, sharks, sawfish and skates! Over 260 species profiles to explore, from bull sharks to stingrays to blue tang, plus FAQs, fish anatomy features and more learning tools.
If you learn to pick out the species of frogs (and toads), you can quickly know a lot about the habitat, the season and even the individual’s personal message. Listen to the most common Florida frog calls to learn about your personal backyard chorus.
Florida is home to many species of snakes, frogs, lizards and more! Explore our reptile and amphibian checklists, and browse our popular guide to Florida snakes.
Many bird watching fans will say that learning to ID species by their calls is one of the best ways to appreciate the avian diversity of your area. Listen to the calls of Florida’s most common and recognizable bird species.
Florida’s Wildflowers & Butterflies
Explore the 50 most common native wildflowers and butterflies in Florida, and learn about the many habitats where they can be found.
Comparative Mission Archaeology Portal
Researchers, educators, students and the curious can explore the history of Florida’s Spanish missions via a new online database. Read about the CMAP database or explore it now.
Explore object from three culture areas are featured in this online exhibit: Mesoamerica, the Intermediate Area, and the Central Andes. Browse the collection
Museum Blogs
Our blogs highlight the work of our scientists and support team that catalogs and examines global biodiversity, from the origin of earth as we know it, through present day, and forward into future possibilities. You can also learn about the latest additions to the Butterfly Rainforest, fun outreach events and more. Explore the blogs:
Browse Museum blogs