Black Mammalogists Week Celebration
Date
Friday, October 16, 2026 | 10 am–2 pm
Location
Tickets
Free with paid Museum Admission
Free for Members
Celebrate Black Mammalogists Week at the Natural History Museum!
On October 16, join us for a special one-day, hands-on event honoring the incredible contributions of Black scientists and conservationists in the field of mammalogy. This celebration amplifies the global Black Mammalogists Week initiative, a movement started in 2020 to connect current and aspiring Black mammalogists across the Diaspora.
All are welcome to get curious, explore the Museum’s world-class mammal collections, and participate in interactive activities!
Step into the shoes of a researcher as you:
- Learn how to set up camera traps to study wildlife.
- Meet live animals up close.
- Chat one-on-one with real mammalogists and conservationists.
- Discover so much more!
Whether you are a student, educator, or nature lover, this is the perfect event to find community, celebrate diverse voices in science, and spark a lifelong passion for the natural world.
Program Schedule
Timed Programs
10 am–2 pm | Career/Research Pathways Poster Sessions
Chat with university students who are just beginning their careers in science. Learn about their research, their pathway into the field, and how you can get started!
11 am–1 pm | Meet Animal Ambassadors
Chat with our friends from Saving Wildlife International and meet some real animal ambassadors!
12:15–2 pm | Community Science and You
Chat with members of our Community Science team, Miguel and Moses, to learn about camera trapping, bat acoustic monitoring, and phone-based wildlife filmmaking.
Stage Presentations
10:30 am | Storytime: You Belong in the Wild
Join Dr. Rae Wynn Grant as she reads a heartfelt story about a young child with a love for science who discovers that while they don’t see other people like them working in nature, they do belong there.
11 am & 12 pm | Raffles!
Enter for a chance to win some exclusive Black Mammalogists Week swag, neat books, and field gear! Must be present to win.
11:30 am | Documenting Wildlife – Meet Miguel & Moses!
Learn different ways to document wildlife for the purposes of research and community engagement. From setting up camera traps, to using bat acoustic monitoring, to wildlife filmmaking on your phone, come learn how you can get involved in community science projects and science communication.
12:30 pm | Career Panel
Enjoy an engaging conversation with real scientists as they share their personal career pathways. Panelists include Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, Dr. Kendall Calhoun, Dr. Asia Murphy, Dr. Tommy Parker, and Dr. Gaila Sims, moderated by Dr. Christine Wilkinson.
Exhibitor Tables
Available from 10 am–2 pm
- Community Science: Visit the museum's Community Science table to see how people of all backgrounds team up with scientists to observe, collect data, and answer important questions, including in our own neighborhoods.
- La Brea Research and Collections: Fossils of animals and plants recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits that are ~10,000–55,000 years old.
- Mammalogy: Meet the staff that care for over 98,000 terrestrial and marine mammal specimens from our collections.
- Vertebrate Paleontology: View the paleontological collections of animals with a backbone and meet the staff that care for these specimens.
- LA City Parks Urban Ecology: Meet LA Parks Urban Ecologists and learn about the fascinating plants and animals that live in our City parks.
- Marine Mammal Care Center: Our mission is to inspire ocean conservation through rescue, rehabilitation, release, research, and education.
- Nature Nexus Institute: Our booth shows various ways staff and community members have connected to nature while asking participants to examine their own connection.
- Santa Monica Mountains Fund: Discover how the Santa Monica Mountains Fund is protecting local wildlife and wild spaces through habitat restoration, education, and community stewardship!
Activities
Make a Mini Diorama
Explore the fascinating world of wildlife by designing a 3D mini-exhibit that showcases your favorite mammal in its natural habitat. Craft your personalized display and take your very own museum-quality diorama home!
Exploration Passport
Explore the event by completing the four tasks on the worksheet to win a prize!
Meet the Participants
Photo by Mark Thiessen
Assistant Curator, Community Science
Dr. Christine Wilkinson is the Assistant Curator of Community Science at NHM and a co-founder of Black Mammalogists Week. She is a National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, and conservation scientist. Her work in California and Kenya combines animal behavior and community engagement to understand how people and wildlife (like spotted hyenas, coyotes, and more) share landscapes and how we might coexist. Christine collaborates with communities, organizations, and governments to translate research into practical conservation policy and action. She is also a science communicator who shares her work through TV, podcasts, public talks, and an upcoming children's book about misunderstood animals. Outside of science, Christine is a musician—drawing broad inspiration from the rhythm, collaboration, and storytelling inherent in taiko performance.
Wildlife Ecologist, Conservation Biologist, Science Communicator
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant is a wildlife ecologist, conservation biologist, and passionate science communicator specializing in large carnivores and human-wildlife interactions. She studies carnivore ecology along California’s central coast, building on research with bears and African lions across North America and East Africa. Dr. Wynn-Grant also hosts award-winning shows like PBS Nature's Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Protecting the Wild. She received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory University, her M.S. in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University.
Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology
Kendall is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Zoology. His research examines how climatic disturbances impact species assemblages and interactions across wildlife communities. His current work focuses primarily on understanding how altered fire regimes impact ecological resilience, human-wildlife interactions, and conservation outcomes. In addition to his research interests, Kendall is passionate about using his work and position to expand equity, diversity, and access to STEM fields to under-represented groups, especially in Ecology and Conservation.
Ecologist, Writer, Photographer
Dr. Asia Murphy uses math to understand what's going on with wild animals. She's worked in Madagascar, all across the east coast of the US, and Arizona on carnivores, birds, lemurs, native bees, and small mammals. She's currently working as a scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Wildlife Ecologist and Educator
Dr. Tommy S. Parker is a wildlife ecologist and educator specializing in urban wildlife. He holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Missouri, serves as a professor at Spalding University and Simmons College of Kentucky, and is currently the editor for the mammals division of the Journal of Urban Ecology. His research investigates how human-dominated landscapes and urbanization influences behavior, population dynamics, and physiology of wildlife. In addition to leveraging artificial intelligence in his own ecological research and modeling, Dr. Parker serves as an AI domain specialist, bringing rigorous biological insight and quantitative methods to evaluate and refine emerging machine learning tools.
Assistant Curator, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Department of History
Dr. Gaila Sims is the Assistant Curator of History at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Originally from Riverside, California, she received her BA in History and African American Studies from Oberlin College and her MA and PhD in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Sims has held positions at several museums, archives, and cultural institutions, including the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, the Harry Ransom Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
From 2022–2025, she served as the inaugural Curator of African American History at the Fredericksburg Area Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Educator, Community Scientist
Moses Aubrey is an educator and community scientist who is passionate about making nature more accessible to all Angelenos. In the community science department, he brings community partners out into nature to experience the joy and wonder of our local environment. In addition to his work at NHM, Moses is wildlife photographer and filmmaker, who loves ecology and documenting animals in urban settings. In his series "Have You Seen Me?" he highlights all forms of biodiversity in Urban LA., from California Grunion, to Jumping spiders, to Great Blue Herons and so much more.
Educator and Wildlife Biologist
Miguel Ordeñana is an environmental educator and wildlife biologist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Southern California, and a M.S. in Ecology from UC Davis. As the Senior Manager of Community Science at NHMLA, Miguel promotes and creates community science projects, and recruits and trains participants. Miguel utilizes his mammal research background by conducting urban mammal research in L.A. and leads NHMLAC’s Southern California Squirrel Survey and Backyard Bat Survey. Miguel serves as an advisor on a jaguar project in southwestern Nicaragua that he initiated in 2012 as well as a Board Member for the Friends of Griffith Park and National Wildlife Federation. Miguel is dedicated towards making science and access to nature more equitable with a goal of increasing the representation and retention of underrepresented communities within the environmental field.
Black Mammalogists Week
