BE ADVISED: On Friday, May 15, the North American Mammal Hall and African Mammal Hall on Level 1 will be closed in preparation for Bug Fair. The North American Mammal Hall on Level 2 will remain open.

BE ADVISED: On Thursday, May 14, USC Commencement ceremonies at the LA Memorial Coliseum will impact traffic, parking, and wayfinding around the Natural History Museum. Please plan your visit accordingly, and consider riding the Metro E (Expo) Line and exiting at USC/Expo station.

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Children on a balcony looking at a hanging sea creature skeleton

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Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Pod Patrol

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weekly

through 07/17/26

12:00 am

Children on a balcony looking at a hanging sea creature skeleton

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Pod Patrol

Learn more

weekly

through 07/17/26

12:00 am

Children on a balcony looking at a hanging sea creature skeleton

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Pod Patrol

Learn more

weekly

through 07/17/26

12:00 am

Children on a balcony looking at a hanging sea creature skeleton

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Pod Patrol

Learn more

weekly

through 07/17/26

12:00 am

Children on a balcony looking at a hanging sea creature skeleton

nhm

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Pod Patrol

Learn more

weekly

through 07/17/26

12:00 am

Stories

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An orca jumping out of the water

Orcas: Culture Beneath the Surface

Dive into the matriarchal culture of orcas

An artistic reconstruction of a herd of ancient sea cows foraging on the seafloor.

For Ancient and Modern Seagrass Ecosystems, Having a (Sea)Cow Is Super Important

A new species of extinct dugong from the Persian Gulf highlights sea cows as underwater lawn mowers protecting biodiversity

Illustration of aquatic sloths chilling by the beach next to some penguins and sea lions during a sun set

Dive Into the Weird Miocene World of Aquatic Sloths

A new paper by an international team of researchers, including NHM's Curator of Marine Mammals, Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, uncovers more secrets of aquasloths with one of the most complete skeletons ever discovered

Elongated Violet Snail (Janthina umbilicata)

Rare Purple Snail Lands Here

The shells of a violet-colored sea snail, Janthina janthina, washed up on SoCal beaches recently.

aerial view of waves on a beach

In Hot Water

As the ocean temperature continues to rise, how are the Pacific’s flora and fauna faring, adapting— or not—and how can people help?

Bill Ludt

Science of SpongeBob: Micro Plastics, Major Problem

Pollution like microplastics is a major problem for our real-life sea creatures behind Bikini Bottom. Find out how you can help with fish expert Dr. Bill Ludt, NHM’s Curator of Ichthyology, and Rory Hu, Nick News Correspondent. Original video from 2023

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Marine Biodiversity Center

Most species on Earth are animals, and most animals are invertebrates, so most of the Earth’s astonishing biodiversity is in the invertebrate animals. The Marine Biodiversity Center is the museum’s core facility for the curation of these remarkable animals. Collections come to the museum from a variety of research projects and government agencies.

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abalone cove beach southern california daytime

An ongoing program at the Natural History Museum aims to develop research and monitoring tools to enormously accelerate our ability to discover and investigate marine invertebrate biodiversity of California’s nearshore waters.

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While NHM is not currently working on these projects, they have influenced our current community science projects.

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Close up of Polychaetes, black background

Life in the Ocean

Our researchers are devoted to better understanding our coastal communities — both now and in the past — and the thousands of animals that live (or lived) there.

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mobile museum ocean experience kids in bus NHM programs

An Ocean Experience

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