Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum

We are a biodiversity research institute and a public natural history museum. We study past and present life on Earth to educate, engage and inspire.

ELEVATOR OUTAGE: We apologize. The passenger elevator at the museum is unexpectedly out of service until sometime in December. We apologize for the inconvenience. We recognize the impact this has on individuals with limited mobility. For those with limited mobility, only the 3rd floor is currently accessible. This includes fossils, fluorescent minerals, the Paleo Garden and Bugtown, our school programming classroom, as well as a restroom and water fountain. Floors 4-6 can only be reached via stairs at this time. Virtual exhibits and activities can be found on our Museum from Home page. For those with strollers, we have areas for you to park your stroller on the 3rd and 4th floors. Again, our apologies. If you have questions, please call Visitor Services at 785-864-4450, or the Biodiversity Institute offices at 785-864-4540.

Museum Hours & Admission

Tuesday-Saturday, 9am-5pm
Sunday, 12pm-4pm
Closed on Mondays

Free admission, suggested donation of $7 for adults, $4 for children. All proceeds support the museum.

Plan Your Visit

Location & Contact Information

Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Blvd
Lawrence, KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-4450
Email: biodiversity@ku.edu

Directions & Parking

Membership

Support the KU Natural History Museum with a Museum Membership and enjoy benefits at the museum and at 300+ institutions around the country!

Become a Member

VENOMventure | aVENENOtura Escape Room — Aug. 8-27

A strange and mysterious plant is on the rampage! Can you solve the science puzzles to save the world from a leafy green end? This educational escape game is for families & groups with kids ages 8+, English- and/or Spanish-speaking. Limited spaces. Free, reservations required.

Learn more

Natural History Museum

The KU Natural History Museum is home to four floors of public exhibits including the historic Panorama, live snakes and insects, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, flora and fauna of the Great Plains and much more.

Visit the Museum

Current Exhibits

Events

Boy looking at biodiversity exhibit with various specimens including a cheetah with its mouth open

Biodiversity Institute

The KU Biodiversity Institute is an internationally recognized center for research and graduate student education in evolutionary biology, systematics and biodiversity informatics, with curated collections of over 10 million plant, animal and fossil specimens and 2 million cultural artifacts.

Research Divisions

Collections

Graduate Education

Four researchers gathered around herpetology collection specimens

Upcoming Events

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VENOMventure | aVENENOtura Escape Room

Reserve Your Time | Reserva Tu Juego

Student & Faculty Programs

Scout group with museum staff and 6 youth in front of the silvisaurus dinosaur exhibit

Scout Programs

News

Museum to Host VENOMventure, a New Science-Themed Escape Room

A venomous plant is invading the University of Kansas Natural History Museum in August, and the public is invited to help discover an antivenom before it takes over the world. A biological mystery is at the heart of a new, immersive escape room game that will be at the museum Aug. 8-27.

New Push Will Digitize Records of African Plants Held in Herbaria and Museums Across the U.S.

Over the past few decades, herbaria and museums worldwide have created digital data records documenting millions of specimens in their holdings. The benefits of digitizing the contents of natural history museums and research institutions flow to the public and researchers worldwide. Now, through a…

Paleontology Journal Adapts to Open Format with Help from KU Libraries

“The nature of scientific publishing has changed so much that I realized in order for us to stay relevant and useful to scientists and also to folks interested in paleontology throughout the world, we had to make this transition to open access, and we had to do it as soon as possible.”

Fossil Find in California Shakes Up the Natural History of Cycad Plants

LAWRENCE — Cycads, a group of gymnosperms that can resemble miniature palm trees (like the popular sago palm houseplant), were long thought to be “living fossils,” a group that had evolved minimally since the time of the dinosaurs. Now, a well-preserved 80-million-year-old pollen cone discovered in…

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