UC Davis hosts 14th annual Biodiversity Museum Day
By PIPER AWEEKA — city@theaggie.org
UC Davis held their 14th annual Biodiversity Museum Day across a variety of city-wide locations on Feb. 8. Activities were held at the California Raptor Center, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden and the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
Tabatha Yang, the coordinator and co-founder of the event, was busy delegating tasks to university volunteers amidst crowds of children and adults. As the education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Yang gave background to the annual celebration.
“Bohart [Museum of Entomology] had been doing open houses on the weekend, and they were popular,” Yang said. “Then we would collaborate with [the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology] because they are our neighbors. And then we connected with the Botanical Conservatory. So one year we just did this kind of three open-house thing across campus, we were like, ‘This is great,’ and then it expanded from there.”
Citing UC Davis’ powerhouse in biology and ecology research, Yang elaborated on the expansive focus of Museum Day.
“We just wanted one day working together,” Yang said. “Some of the collections are living, and then some of the collections are preserved, but we’re all science collections.”
Julie Cotton, the co-manager of operations at the California Raptor Center, emphasized the center’s special contribution to Museum Day.
“Our collection is a little unique in that we’re one of the only collections where our specimens are primarily live specimens,” Cotton said. “We have a collection of non-releasable birds of prey that serve as educational ambassadors for their species here.”
Cotton then talked more about the Raptor Center and also elaborated on its objectives and long-term goals.
“One of our big goals is to be open to the public and family-friendly, […] we host many visiting school groups, we offer classes and tours,” Cotton said. “There’s a whole part of our mission that people don’t get to see as much. We also rehabilitate injured, orphaned and sick birds of prey that members of the public find. […] Last year was actually a record-setting year for us, 261 birds [rehabilitated] in 2024.”
Kurt Wendlenner, an attendee at the California Raptor Center, reflected on Biodiversity Museum Day’s significance for the community.
“It’s a great event that we try to bring the kids out to,” Wendlenner said. “It’s a great component of Biodiversity Day and showing everything that UC Davis and the Davis community has to offer.”
Ash Robinson, a UC Davis student volunteer majoring in evolution, ecology and biodiversity, talked over the crowd inside the Bohart Museum to share about preserved fish specimens and the success of the event.
“We keep all of our fish in 70% ethanol to kind of preserve them,” Robinson said. “So all of them are dead. This is my first time doing Biodiversity Day, but there are a lot of people who are engaged, which is very fun.”
With throngs of attendees actively engaging with displays of preserved animal carcasses and live birds of prey, Yang spotlighted the unique beauty of UC Davis’ Biodiversity Museum Day.
“We try to open our doors to the public, […] that was the way Dr. Bohart operated as a professor — he always had an open-door policy,” Yang said. “If you go to other collections, it’s not this open. It’s highly unusual.”
Written by Piper Aweeka — city@theaggie.org
