Florida Museum of Natural History

Florida Museum of Natural History The Florida Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Florida, inspires people to care about life on Earth. This site is not a public forum.
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Our exhibits building is currently CLOSED for an expansion project. Full info: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/visit/expansion/ The Florida Museum of Natural History intends to educate, inform and provide updated information on its activities and to support and promote its objectives for these activities through its page. All Florida Museum comments are made by Museum designees. Social

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Online Exhibit 🌀 Earth’s Forecast: Hurricanes and Climate ChangeSeasons Greetings!The Atlantic hurricane season runs fro...
05/31/2026

Online Exhibit 🌀 Earth’s Forecast: Hurricanes and Climate Change

Seasons Greetings!

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. In the northeastern Pacific, the season runs from May 15 to November 30. In the northwestern Pacific, typhoons are most common from late June through December. And the northern Indian Ocean sees cyclones from April to December.

Recipe for a Hurricane

Hurricanes are a type of tropical cyclone – a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure center, closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms. In order for a hurricane to form, four main ingredients are needed:

1. Pre-existing weather disturbance
2. Warm ocean waters
3. High humidity
4. Light winds high in the atmosphere

Hurricane formation begins when warm tropical water evaporates and rises. Cool air rushes in to fill the gap and the process repeats. Warm, moist air in the atmosphere condenses into huge storm clouds that spiral around a central column of wind. If there is enough warm water to continue fueling the process and no strong winds to break the system apart, a cyclone forms.

Learn more about 🌀 Earth’s Forecast: Hurricanes and Climate Change
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/online/hurricanes-climate-change/

June 2 🦋 Tot Trot: Butterflies! Are your little naturalists excited about butterflies and caterpillars? Let's learn abou...
05/30/2026

June 2 🦋 Tot Trot: Butterflies!

Are your little naturalists excited about butterflies and caterpillars? Let's learn about lepidoptera! Our popular toddler program promotes child-focused sensory experiences and investigation with an emphasis on families exploring science together.

🐿️ Each Tuesday has a different theme and one program per month is FREE! Check our website for the meet-up location with map.

🦎 June:
June 2- Butterflies
June 9- Amphibians
June 16- Reptiles
June 23- Bioblitz, FREE Day

Program info, prices and more dates:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/kids/tot-trots/

Length: About 1.5 hours

Age: Recommended for children ages 2-5 years old

When: Most Tuesday mornings at 9am

Where: Instead of meeting at the Museum, we will meet at the picnic tables at the UF NATL Natural Park Entrance located on the corner of Natural Area drive. *Full info on our website*

Turtle Death Layer 🐢 Research NewsPaleontologist Jason Bourque was preparing a small turtle fossil when he noticed som...
05/29/2026

Turtle Death Layer 🐢 Research News

Paleontologist Jason Bourque was preparing a small turtle fossil when he noticed something curious embedded in a tiny pit in the shell.

The fossil was from Montbrook, a Miocene fossil site formed roughly five-and-a-half million years ago. During excavation volunteers and paleontologists came to a layer that had a surprising abundance of turtle specimens. They nickname it the "turtle death layer". It may have formed when turtles congregated in a shrinking pool of water during a drought.

Jason, who specializes in fossil turtles, was delighted to find so many specimens to work with. He was curious if he would discover an unknown or unexpected species at this site. While working on one of the turtle shells, he noticed a miniscule tooth fragment embedded in a tiny pit in the shell. And then another one in another pit nearby the first.

“I immediately thought of gar. Their teeth fall out pretty regularly, and we find hundreds and hundreds of their scales and teeth at Montbrook. But that was almost too easy.”

He briefly considered actual alligators, but the teeth looked like fish, and modern Alligator gars are known to eat crabs and small turtles.

Jason named this new turtle species Sternotherus pugnatus, the epithet being a Latin variation of the word pugnacious. It’s not the first time this adjective has been used to describe the behavior of musk turtles once their slow anger has been sufficiently roused, but it seemed especially fitting for a scrappy species that went up against a predator several times bigger than itself and came out with only a few minor bite marks.

Story: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/ancient-altercations-between-musk-turtles-and-alligator-gars-recorded-in-floridas-fossil-record/

June 6 🦖 Meet us at the library! We’re helping to ‘Rawrrr into Reading’ this summer with friends and fossils. Our friend...
05/27/2026

June 6 🦖 Meet us at the library! We’re helping to ‘Rawrrr into Reading’ this summer with friends and fossils.

Our friends at the library are kicking off their “Summer at the Library” and hyping the Summer Reading Challenge starting on May 23.

Look for our education team at the Florida Museum table where they’ll have prehistoric objects and fun activities!

When: Saturday, June 6, 10 am-2 pm

Where: Tower Road Library Branch

What: Alachua County Library District’s FREE Reader Palooza

Event details and links:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/event/pop-up-museum-reader-palooza-2026/

Online Exhibit 🌅 Women of the EvergladesIn the early 1900s, three influential Florida women, inspired by three different...
05/26/2026

Online Exhibit 🌅 Women of the Everglades

In the early 1900s, three influential Florida women, inspired by three different causes, laid the foundation for Everglades conservation.

“The willingness of the scientists to stamp with approval Royal Palm State park, should be evidence sufficient of the value of what the club women are doing in this great conservation undertaking.”
— May Mann Jennings

Feature: May Mann Jennings
Mother of Florida Forestry

Renowned for her political savvy and social shrewdness, May Mann Jennings (April 25, 1872–April 25, 1963) secured legislation establishing Royal Palm State Park in 1915 while serving as president of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs. The state’s first park would lay the foundation for the establishment of Everglades National Park, an initiative Jennings was also heavily involved in.

Jennings earned the nickname “Mother of Florida Forestry” for her lifelong dedication to environmental conservation and her efforts to create the Florida Board of Forestry and Florida Forest Association. She was also fond of pelicans and other shore birds, and served as a founding member of the Florida Audubon Society. Today the Everglades is the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America, providing habitat for more than 400 species.

Photo: May Mann Jennings (front row, far left) and the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs’ members. Courtesy P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History University of Florida

🌅 More about the work of May Mann Jennings, Minnie Moore-Willson and Marjory Stoneman Douglas on our online exhibit:
https://brnw.ch/21x2PnP

Research news 🧋 Hawkmoth snoots! Hawkmoths hold the record for having the world's longest proboscis, the specialized fe...
05/25/2026

Research news 🧋 Hawkmoth snoots!

Hawkmoths hold the record for having the world's longest proboscis, the specialized feeding tubes insects use to drink.

When a moth or butterfly get close enough to a flower for a sip of nectar, it often rubs up against pollen grains that become attached to its scales and proboscises. It advertently serves as a pollinator by depositing a portion of these pollen grains on the next flower it visits.

The relationship between flowers and their pollinators isn’t always perfect. Moths have an incentive to get as much nectar as possible, which they can do by evolving a longer proboscis.

While some species of hawkmoths have long proboscises they use to drink nectar from specialized flowers, others have short ones that give them access to a wider variety of floral food sources. Some have no proboscises and rely entirely on energy stored during their larval stage.

“There is a co-evolutionary arms race with the hawkmoth and the flower that has persisted for millions of years. The tongue of the moth becomes longer and longer, and the flower, too, becomes longer and longer,” Akito Kawahara said.

Eventually, the relationship can spiral into complete dependence. Long-tubed flowers outgrow all their other pollinators and require an equally matched hawkmoth to do the job. In these cases, the two are so tightly linked that finding one usually means the other is close by.

Story: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/evolutionary-arms-race-stretches-hawkmoths-and-flowers-to-extremes/

June 6 🐊 We're going to Prehistoric Palooza! Two of our paleontologists will be at this neat event at Santa Fe College T...
05/24/2026

June 6 🐊 We're going to Prehistoric Palooza! Two of our paleontologists will be at this neat event at Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo to talk about Florida’s most famous living fossils – alligators – as well as the cool fossil dig site not far from here called Montbrook.

Our friends at the Zoo have a lot of activities and other fun planned, so look for the Florida Museum researchers on the schedule while you're there!

What: Prehistoric Palooza

When: Saturday, June 6, 10 am-2 pm

Where: Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo

Event details and links:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/event/pop-up-museum-prehistoric-palooza-2026/

Florida Eocene 🎨 56 million to 34 million years agoDuring the Eocene, the Earth was generally warmer than it is today an...
05/23/2026

Florida Eocene 🎨 56 million to 34 million years ago
During the Eocene, the Earth was generally warmer than it is today and Florida was under water. Our state was still teeming with life - seagrass meadows were home to crabs, sea stars, oysters and corals. Early sharks, crocodilians and ancient sea cows, too!

🐚 Phantom Fossils: Many fossil invertebrates from Florida’s Eocene consist of external molds. These were formed when an organism’s skeleton dissolved and left a cavity in the surrounding hardened (lithified) sediment. These hollows are difficult for paleontologists to study. Exact positives (casts) of the former skeletons are produced when silicone rubber is poured into these cavities.

🗝️ You might recognize this painting from our exhibit with a key to the flora and fauna represented:

1. Thalassodendron auricula-leprosis (sea grass)
2. Velates floridanus (extinct Florida nerite)
3. Cymodocea (sea grass)
4. Oyenaster oblidus (sea star)
5. Hyotissa podagrina (gouty oyster)
6. Brittlestar
7. Striatolamia macrota (sand tiger shark)
8. Swimming crab
9. Branching coral
10. Caulastrea portoricensis (coral)
11. Undetermined crocodilian

Learn about phantom fossils, seagrass meadows and toothed whales:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/blog/florida-eocene-painting-by-david-miller/

Florida Eocene painting by David Miller

Museum Collections 🐈 Gracile Saber-toothed CatYou might recognize this feature! This skull is on permanent display in ...
05/22/2026

Museum Collections 🐈 Gracile Saber-toothed Cat

You might recognize this feature! This skull is on permanent display in our Florida Fossils exhibit, located in the Pleistocene Epoch wall case.

"Most people don’t realize that there was more than one type of saber-toothed cat," said paleontologist Richard Hulbert. "In fact, in Florida we have about a half a dozen different species. In the Pleistocene, the genus Smilodon includes two species: the large tiger-size Smilodon fatalis and the skull in the case, the Leopard- or Jaguar-size Smilodon gracilis."

He added: The world’s largest sample of Smilodon gracilis comes from near Tampa at the famous Leisey shell pit.

Featured
Gracile Saber-toothed Cat Skull (Smilodon gracilis)
From Hillsborough Co., Florida
Lived ~1.25 million years ago

Museum collection: Vertebrate Paleontology

Online Exhibit 🐈 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating
🎧 Read and listen to more with Richard Hulbert, and browse other objects from our collections: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/object/gracile-saber-toothed-cat/

📸 Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace

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32611

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