Charles Darwin and DNA

Darwin Days 2010

MSU Darwin Discovery Day set for Feb. 14, 2010        

MSU Museum to host “Avelution” exhibit     

 

Pam Rasmussen with bird collection

 

MSU taxonomist and ornithologist Pamela Rasmussen inspects the MSU Museum's bird collection.

 

Michigan State University will mark the 201st anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin with a variety of events, including a new exhibition at the MSU Museum that looks at the role birds played in the development of Darwin’s theories.

The exhibit is titled “’Avelution’: Birds in the Development of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.” It will run from Jan. 17, 2010, through June 2010.

Darwin Discovery Day will take place on Feb. 14, 2010, and feature a number of special events.

*Darwin's Study -- a recreation of Charles Darwin's office with specimens, books, furnishings and a live Darwin re-enactor.

  • Live critters with the Michigan Society of Herpetologists and MSU Museum's naturalist, Jim Harding the Critterguy
  • Live chickens and pigeons -- showing special breeds
  • Tours of Habitat Hall, Hall of Evolution and a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse at MSU Museum research collections
  • Tours of the MSU Museum's "Bug Room," featuring beetles that help prepare animal skeletons for inclusion in the collections as they clean away flesh from tiny crevices in bone that human hands and tools can never reach
  • Bird skeletons from MSU Museum's Vertebrate Natural History collections, as well as other interesting and unusual museum specimens
  • Dinosaur casts in Habitat Hall, showing recent finds from museum fieldwork and research in Tanzania
  • Ask the experts: museum curators, MSU graduate students and specialists can help you identify backyard curiosities. Bring in a rock, bone, fossil, tooth or other natural object. (Note: The MSU Museum cannot provide estimates on the commercial value of any specimen nor provide expertise on human-made artifacts at this program)
  • Meet the Scientist: MSU Museum Assistant Curator of Mammalogy and Ornithology Pamela Rasmussen

There also will be hands-on activities for children, a birthday cake and refreshments, and books and education resources at the Museum Store.

Darwin Days 2009



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