Katie Predick, Conservation Research and Education Department Earth Day is a time to celebrate the fascinating, biodiverse, resilient nature all around us. And while it’s essential to appreciate and celebrate the unique nature of the Sonoran Desert and beyond, every Earth Day that passes without significant climate or environmental action brings us closer to the…
Author: desertmuseum
Desert Museum Science: Knowledge from Nature for People
A Day in the Life of Desert Museum Science Buzz Hoffman, a retired entomologist and founding member of the Museum’s Bee Team volunteers, spends several hours each week staring down a microscope, looking at minute details of native bees to sort them by genus. Isabella, a senior at Sunnyside High School, picks up where Buzz…
Finding Paths in the Mountains
An Earth Camp Experience By Alana Huffmon, Educator and Earth Camp staff Earth Camp is a unique experience that connects high-school students in Tucson with hands-on stewardship and restoration experiences in the Coronado National Forest. Earth Camp brings STEAM skills to life as students experience three days in the Santa Catalina Mountains working, learning, and laughing…
Save a Saguaro! Tucson Community Fights Buffelgrass
After University of Arizona Journalism student Hannah Cree attended the Save Our Saguaros Month Kickoff event to investigate the Tucson community’s efforts against the invasive species buffelgrass, we invited her to share the resulting story here on the Desert Diaries blog. Thank you to Hannah! By Hannah Cree with photos by Desert Museum staff It’s…
Why Pursue Conservation Work? A Personal Perspective
Ya-Ching Lin shares how climate disasters inspired her to pursue conservation work at the Desert Museum. Ya-Ching is the Museum’s GIS Analyst, working primarily on invasive species removal efforts. February 28th – March 4th is the National Invasive Species Awareness Week and the last week of Save Our Saguaros Month. Learn more about the campaign…
Sharing is Caring in the Sonoran Desert
By Catherine Bartlett, Education Program Manager What do limp lizards, a bundle of bats, and fresh fecal samples have in common? Love. Well, maybe not love exactly but each can certainly be seen as an act of generosity in the animal world. Of the five love languages (words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service, receiving gifts) animals exhibit each, in some…
An Evolving Tradition
For almost 70 years, the Desert Museum has been a leader in the industry. Known for its natural habitat exhibits and critical conservation work, the Museum has weathered these challenging few years, thanks to our generous community of volunteers, donors, members, visitors, social media fans, and readers like you! As the COVID-19 pandemic caused upheavals…
Weaving the Web of Life
Do you recall the grade school diagrams illustrating a simple food chain? This predator eats that prey and that prey eats plants, and plants obtain their energy from the sun and nutrients from soil. Arrows represent one organism eating another. Food chain diagrams help us visualize the flow of energy through an ecosystem. While the…
What Is Conservation Really About?
By Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction Join Michelle at the Desert Museum on Saturday, November 13, from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. for a brief reading from Beloved Beasts, a lively discussion with renowned field ecologist and conservationist Harry Greene, and a book signing. Books will be available…
Enriching Environments
What is animal enrichment and why do we do it? We’re not talking vitamin supplements (though they might be included!) but ways to engage and entertain the animals in our care. Read on to learn from our amazing young collaborator Sarah Green, who earned the Girl Scout Gold Award for her project researching and creating…
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