The Nat Blog

A Glimpse at Who We Really Are

Posted: December 28, 2017

Guest blogger Austin John Jones, a participant in the Social Stories Spectrum Project, writes about his experience in this program and shares his perceptive on the different faces of autism.  Read more.


Did you know the diversity of mammals in San Diego County is greater than any other county in the United States? It’s true—and now, thanks to a book authored and edited by staff at the San Diego Natural History Museum, along with several other authors and more than 40 contributors, amateur naturalists and professional biologists have a complete reference guide for San Diego fauna. Read more.


Even if you don’t know the name Edward Lear, you probably know his most famous poem, The Owl and the Pussy-cat. His first collection of poems, A Book of Nonsense—first published in 1846 and re-released in 1861—shot him to fame in his native England as an author of charming verse and playful limericks. But Lear’s success surprised him as he always considered himself not a poet, but an artist—in particular, a scientific illustrator. Read more.


Back to the Future

Posted: November 13, 2017

We all love birds and bats, and maybe even scat, more than strategic planning, which doesn’t always sound so exciting. But a good plan helps us work together toward a shared goal and encourages us to look beyond the day-to-day needs. Over this past year we developed a new strategy roadmap that will guide the Museum’s activities, and it’s already helping us focus our efforts and experiment with new approaches.  Read more.


Within the walls of the Museum are stored more than 8 million specimens in our combined collections, which represent an unparalleled treasure trove of local plants, animals, and fossils amassed over a span of more than 140 years. They tell a unique and rich story about the historical ebb and flow of our regional natural environment.  Read more.


A lot of people run the other way when they see a spider. Lee Passmore not only spent many hours seeking out eight-legged creatures to photograph them—he made new scientific discoveries in the process. Read more.


Our meetups with the young adults with autism have been very busy over the last few months. We have been building out our first social stories from the framework for museum visits. Read more.


Periodically the world welcomes into its midst a personality larger than life, an individual who seems to be able to achieve, in one lifetime, what would take three people to normally create. Such a person was Laurence M. Klauber, born in 1883, who was a San Diego engineer, polymath, CEO, mathematician, inventor, poetry buff, bibliophile, and consummate citizen scientist. Read more.


Right now, we don’t know much about the San Bernardino Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis californicus). Yes, we know it is totally adorable, but it’s also elusive and strictly nocturnal with a habitat range currently thought to be restricted to the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. How many are there? What are its habits and behaviors? We don’t really know. Read more.


How do we go about meeting the diverse sensory needs of each young adult in the Social Stories Spectrum Project? The participants arrive by train, bus, cars, and Uber drivers from various parts of the county and city. They gather together for four hours, explore museums, and co-create social stories together. All of this activity can be very challenging, especially for those young adults in our group that have sensory processing challenges. Read more.