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Austin Nature & Science Center Since 1960, the Austin Nature & Science Center has provided nature exhibits, education programs, and recreation resources for countless patrons.
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Since 1960, the Austin Nature & Science Center has provided hands-on nature exhibits, education programs and recreation activities for countless visitors, teachers and children of all ages that increase awareness and appreciation of the natural environment. Located on the western edge of Zilker Park, the ANSC is dedicated to the exploration of the natural world. The Austin Nature & Science Center offers many programs for preschoolers, kids, families and adults with topics ranging from butterflies to caving and much more.

🦋 FLIGHT OF THE POLLINATORS EVENT TOMORROW! 🌸We're kicking off the city-wide Roots & Wings celebration with our Flight o...
10/16/2026

🦋 FLIGHT OF THE POLLINATORS EVENT TOMORROW! 🌸

We're kicking off the city-wide Roots & Wings celebration with our Flight of the Pollinators event tomorrow at the Austin Nature & Science Center from 10:00 - 2:00. Enjoy fun, free, interactive activities all about our pollinator friends and the plants and habitats they support and need.
* Make a mask and wear it in our Pollinator Parade! (costumes welcome!
* Taste different honey varieties
* Learn about monarch tagging with the Texas Master Capital Area Master Naturalists
* Test your pollinators knowledge for prizes
* Learn about bats and echolocation
* Participate in tree scavenger hunt, nature games, and crafts
* Take home saplings, seeds, and other pollinator-supporting giveaways (while supplies last)
AND SO MUCH MORE!
Free and fun for all ages!

🐝 "FLIGHT OF THE POLLINATORS" ROOTS & WINGS EVENT OCTOBER 17! 🦋Join the Austin Nature & Science Center for a day full ...
10/07/2026

🐝 "FLIGHT OF THE POLLINATORS" ROOTS & WINGS EVENT OCTOBER 17! 🦋

Join the Austin Nature & Science Center for a day full of fun, facts & whimsy! Forage for nectar like a winged pollinator & taste different honeys. Learn about tree species that provide food, shelter & shade for Austinites…human or otherwise! Dress up as your favorite pollinator & join us in our Pollinator Parade! It’ll be a (root)BALL for all ages!
Tree Saplings & Pollinator Garden Starter Kits available, while supplies last.

This event is part of the City of Austin's Roots & Wings Festival. Learn more about the festival at rootsandwingsfest.com.

09/22/2026

⛔🛠️ ANSC CLOSED FOR ACL! 🎶

Austin Nature & Science Center will be closed for annual Maintenance Week and Austin City Limits Music Festival from Monday, September 28 through Sunday, October 11. We will return to normal business hours Monday, October 12. Please anticipate traffic and parking disruptions due to Austin City Limits Music Festival beginning September 23, 2026.

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️Yes, we got a correct answer to last week's mystery! Those beautifully-patterned sheets are th...
09/16/2026

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️

Yes, we got a correct answer to last week's mystery! Those beautifully-patterned sheets are the outer covering, or "envelope", of a WASP NEST, specifically a BALD-FACED HORNET NEST! Which is actually a type of yellowjacket. What's the difference anyway?

Hornets and yellowjackets are both types of social wasps, meaning they live in communal nests. These nests are constructed out of "paper" that the wasps make by mixing their saliva with wood and other plant fibers. They make inner combs full of individual cells and cover the whole thing in the outer envelope, except for an opening at the bottom to get in and out. Hornets make their nests hanging in trees or other high structures, while yellowjackets usually build their nests on or underground or in already-existing holes, but sometimes will build higher nests as well (like the "aerial" bald-faced hornets). The nests from both can be up to three feet long and house thousands of wasps!

Hornets, which are generally larger, are a specific family of wasps. Yellowjackets are a different family of wasps, which includes the bald-faced "hornet" 🤔. Which is not yellow, but a distinctive black and white with a white face. And is also pretty big at about 3/4 of an inch for workers and one inch for queens.

Insect taxonomy (the classification and categorization of organisms) changes as new discoveries and scientific advancements are made, and the names of insects don't always change with it. Plus, regional differences in what people call different insects puts an interesting spin on what different people in different areas call things like "hornet," "wasp", "yellowjacket", and so on.

Here's another little piece of something bigger (and really cool!). What is it?

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️And we're back! And our last mystery immediately had a correct response of a HEAD LOUSE! Lucki...
09/02/2026

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️

And we're back! And our last mystery immediately had a correct response of a HEAD LOUSE! Luckily this dreaded creature is just on our microscope slide, so we can appreciate it's weirdness without the itch or the ick!

Head lice are insects - six legs, three body parts, antennae - that are parasitic, feeding on human blood. They usually live on the scalp, with females laying eggs that attach to hairs with a gluey substance. The adults live for a few weeks, biting their hosts, causing the itching that is the most common symptom of lice. And that's usually the worst of it -- lice infestations are pretty easy to treat with special shampoos, lice do not spread disease, and they are usually only spread through head-to-head contact. And they do NOT indicate anything about cleanliness or hygiene - unfortunately, they can infect anyone they come into close contact with!

Lice have been feasting on humans for millions of years and are seen worldwide. Scientists have even used the study of lice to study human evolution, migration, and behavior.

This week's mystery might not cause quivers and itches just looking at it, but maybe it will if you know what it is...what is it?

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️Last week's mystery was quite a stumper - it appears to be an EEL SKULL, but determining which...
07/08/2026

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️

Last week's mystery was quite a stumper - it appears to be an EEL SKULL, but determining which species is difficult: there are about 1000 species of eels worldwide, with well over 100 living in Mexican waters where this one was found (we don't know exactly where). Eels range in adult size from a few inches (we know it's not this one!) to over eight feet (also not this one!), and have quite a range of skull and jaw shapes, although many different species are also very similar-looking. From the biggest to the smallest, they all start out as tiny, clear, flat-shaped larva called leptocephali.

This one could be one of our favorites here at the ANSC, the American eel! The size of this skull is about the size of our own resident American eel Houdini, but is is broken on both sides and missing the lower jaw. We'll keep investigating, and you can visit Houdini in our Small Wonders building!

This week's mystery is on a new slide loaded onto our microscope in the Naturalist Workshop - so hint: it's really, really tiny! What is it?

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️We're back! It's been a little while, but take a look back at our last mystery - a gooey, funk...
06/24/2026

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️

We're back! It's been a little while, but take a look back at our last mystery - a gooey, funky-looking jar of SEA CUCUMBERS! While obviously named for their lookalike fruit, these animals are related to starfish, sea urchins, and other ECHINODERMS. But unlike their relatives, sea cucumbers have evolved reduced skeletons (yes, starfish and sea urchins have skeletons!), so they have wobblier, blobbier bodies with only small (microscopic) calcified ossicles making up their bony parts.

They display an incredible amount of beautiful, colorful, otherworldly-looking forms, and are super important to the health of the world's oceans: they act as cleaners of their environments, feeding on waste, decaying carcasses, and other organic matter that needs to be broken down and recycled for healthy oceans. Thanks, sea cucumbers!

Summer crowds are here, and we've been getting lots of fun things from all over the world brought in to our Trade Counter, including today's treasure: what is it?

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️We're back! Our last beautiful mystery crystal was a DUMORTIERITE QUARTZ! The rare blue dumort...
04/29/2026

⁉️ WHAT IS IT WEDNESDAY ⁉️

We're back! Our last beautiful mystery crystal was a DUMORTIERITE QUARTZ! The rare blue dumortierite is a mineral made of aluminum, boron, and silicate elements, with some other minerals that give it different colors from blue to pink and violet. It forms often as inclusions within quartz, such as in our examples, where it gives a light blue tip to the crystals that really shines and "flashes" over a bright flashlight. Under a microscope, we can see that the blue dumortierite is actually fibrous, glassy little blue prisms inside the quartz. Beautiful!

Today we have something beautiful in a different way! What is it?

Address

2389 Stratford Drive
Austin, TX
78746

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 1pm - 5pm

Telephone

+15129743888

Website

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