Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History

Call Website Contact the museum

Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History The biggest little museum in Minnesota.

09/10/2026

Fossil Facts with Jim! 🦑🦖🦕

Logan and Weston went mudlarking along the Zumbro River this summer. Both boys made very interesting discoveries! Logan ...
08/29/2026

Logan and Weston went mudlarking along the Zumbro River this summer. Both boys made very interesting discoveries!

Logan holds bison leg bones: a talus and 4th tarsal. Ancient bison bones are frequently discovered across Minnesota in riverbeds and eroding riverbanks.

Weston shows off his Cretaceous-period shark tooth (tentatively identified as belonging to Scapanorhynchus). Cretaceous shark teeth are discovered in Minnesota because a shallow inland sea covered much of the state 80 to 100 million years ago (when dinosaurs lived).

08/21/2026

Come to Blue Earth MN to meet our fellow mixiasourous! A genetic wonder that shows us the blueprint for future aquatic prehistoric animals! 🦖🦕

08/10/2026

Fossil Facts with Jim!! Take a deep dive into the worlds of Geology, Paleontology and Archaeology! Visit the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History in Blue Earth, MN!! 🦕🦖

08/03/2026

Come to Blue Earth, MN to the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History 🦖🦕

06/11/2026

Today we have a two-part video from our summer dig with Adam, Stacy, and their son Colton Hearne (from Blue Earth, MN). Mike Payne, of Gillette, Wyoming, was our guide.
We excavated a channel deposit on a remote ranch, located somewhere between Newcastle and Gillette, Wyoming. What's a channel deposit? It is fossilized river sediment that is highly prized by paleonerds because they provide concentrated snapshots of prehistoric ecosystems. Imagine a fossilized sandbar or river bank, and you wouldn't be far off the mark. The two-day dig was a success, and everyone found something cool to bring home. During the last half hour of the dig, Stacy pulled what she first thought was a piece of Triceratops frill (a chunk of the shield on a Triceratops head), but, upon further inspection, it turned out to be something even cooler.

06/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who came to the w**e walk!! 🦖🦕 **ewalk

05/25/2026

Jim talks ancient pigments! Some used in King Tuts tomb and a woopy pie! 🦖🦕

05/19/2026

Check out our new fossil prep station! 🪏⚒️🪛⛏️

Address

110 North Main Street
Blue Earth, MN
56013

Opening Hours

Monday 1pm - 4pm
Tuesday 1pm - 4pm
Wednesday 1pm - 4pm
Thursday 1pm - 4pm
Friday 1pm - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+15075263466

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History:

Shortcuts

Share

Category