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Buena Vista Museum of Natural History & Science facts for kids
Buena Vista Museum Exterior from Chester Ave.
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| Established | 1995 |
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| Location | Bakersfield, California |
| Type | Natural history museum |
| Public transit access | GET Rt. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14 (Downtown Transit Center) |
The Buena Vista Museum of Natural History & Science is a cool place in Bakersfield, California. It's a natural history museum located right in the downtown Arts district. This museum is all about helping you discover the amazing stories of our planet. It focuses on three main areas: geology (the study of Earth's rocks and how it formed), anthropology (the study of human history and culture), and paleontology (the study of ancient life through fossils).
Discovering the Past: About the Museum
A natural history museum is a place where you can learn about the natural world. You can see real fossils, ancient tools, and learn about different animals. The Buena Vista Museum helps visitors understand the long history of Earth and the creatures that have lived here. It also teaches about human cultures from long ago.
A Journey Through Time: Museum History
The Buena Vista Museum first opened its doors in 1995. It started with a very special collection of fossils. These fossils came from a place called Shark Tooth Hill in Kern County. They are from the Miocene period, which was about 5 to 23 million years ago! This collection, gathered by Bob and Mary Ernst, is the largest of its kind from that area.
At first, the museum was in a small space at the California Living Museum (CALM). But the collection kept growing bigger and bigger. It started to include items from outside Kern County too. Because it needed more space, the museum moved several times. Finally, it found its current home in downtown Bakersfield.
What You'll See: Exciting Exhibits
The most important part of the museum is the Mary Ernst Collection. These are the amazing Miocene fossils from Shark Tooth Hill. But there's much more to explore!
You can see a collection of taxidermy animals from Africa. Taxidermy is when animals are preserved to look lifelike. There's also a giant replica of a Triceratops skull. A replica is a very accurate copy of something. You can also see a model of a Yokuts Indian village, showing how people lived long ago. There's even a detailed model of Yosemite Valley, complete with tiny roads and buildings.
The museum also has a fun, hands-on area called the "Oh Zone." Here, you can touch and explore different things. If you're curious about how scientists work, check out the Paleo Lab. This lab is where experts clean, fix, and put together fossils and other old artifacts. It's like a fossil hospital!