Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History facts for kids
 |
|
| Established | 1961 |
|---|---|
| Location | Bryan, Texas |
The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History is an exciting place in Bryan, Texas, where you can explore science, nature, and the history of people. It's a museum that helps us learn about the world around us. The museum is also part of big groups like the American Alliance of Museums, which helps museums work together.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's Collections
The museum has many cool collections! You can see amazing things related to:
- Archaeology: Learning about ancient people and their tools.
- Botany: Studying plants of all kinds.
- Conchology: Discovering beautiful shells.
- Cultural history: Exploring how people lived long ago.
- Geology: Understanding rocks, minerals, and Earth's history.
- Mammalogy: Learning about mammals, from tiny mice to huge elephants.
- Ornithology: Discovering different types of birds.
- Paleontology: Seeing incredible fossils of ancient life, like dinosaurs!
The Dream of a Space Shuttle
After the Space Shuttle program ended, NASA had four space shuttle orbiters. Many museums wanted to display one of these amazing spacecraft. The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History was one of 14 museums considered.
Former President George H. W. Bush, whose library is nearby, supported the museum's dream. Museum leaders were very hopeful they would get a shuttle. However, the museum was not chosen to receive an orbiter. NASA had some concerns about how many visitors the museum had and how hard it would be to move a shuttle there.
Nearby Texas A&M University did receive a full-motion shuttle simulator. This simulator was used by astronauts for training.
Amazing Fossil Discoveries
The museum is home to the incredible Frithiof Fossil Collection. This collection includes many ancient treasures.
Ice Age Animals
You can see a 15-inch Paleozoic trilobite, which is a very old sea creature. There are also complete skeletons of animals from the Ice Age. These include a cave bear, an early wolf, and a Saber-toothed cat. You can also find many other partial skeletons from this time.
Dinosaur Giants
Dinosaurs are a big part of the collection! You can see parts of huge dinosaurs like:
- A skull, vertebrae, femur, arm, and a giant tail of a hadrosaurid dinosaur. This hadrosaurid tail is special because it has fossilized skin!
- Teeth and various bones from a Tyrannosaurus rex and an Albertosaurus.
- Parts of a gigantic Camarasaurus, Triceratops, and Maiasaura.
Other Ancient Skeletons
The museum also has complete skeletons of other fascinating ancient creatures. You can see a Psittacosaurus, which was an early relative of the Triceratops. There is also a complete Confuciusornis, a bird-like dinosaur related to both raptor dinosaurs and modern birds.
You can also view rare, almost complete skeletons of early mammals, fish, and reptiles. These fossils help us understand how life on Earth has changed over millions of years.
