Delmnhadmin2021-04-16T16:07:32-04:00

Welcome to the Delaware Museum of Natural History

Our building is closed to visitors, but our doors are open online. The Museum will reopen in early 2022 as the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science.

What’s new at DMNH

Three new Trustees elected to the Museum’s Board

Three new Trustees elected to the Museum’s Board

The Delaware Museum of Natural History is pleased to report the election of three new Trustees to the Museum’s [...]

A Lesson in Bioluminescence

A Lesson in Bioluminescence

A Lesson in Bioluminescence Curator of Mollusks Liz Shea, Ph.D. has been working hard on new exhibits for [...]

Previous 123 Next

Upcoming Events

Canceled: Virtual Professional Development – Seeing Science Everywhere: Animals and their Habitats

April 17 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Hands on Science with DMNH

April 21 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Hands on Science with DMNH

April 28 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Snacking with Science for Teachers of Grades K-2nd

April 28 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

delmnh

The Delaware Museum of Natural History aims to excite and inform people about the natural world through exploration and discovery.

Next month is DMNH's 49th anniversary of the doors

Next month is DMNH's 49th anniversary of the doors opening to the public. While our doors are currently closed for major renovations, we'll definitely be celebrating our 50th in a big way in 2022. Here's part of an article from The Morning News (Wilmington, DE) on Friday, April 14, 1972:

"The Delaware Museum of Natural History, first major museum of natural history to be constructed in the nation since 1900, will open to the public May 13, as scheduled.

Some doubt as to the opening resulted when a fire on March 5 caused extensive damage to the building on Kennett Pike.
The opening date was confirmed last night by John E. du Pont, who first conceived of the idea of the multi-million dollar institution in 1957. Construction was started in the summer of 1969.

The museum houses the largest egg collection in the world. It also features collections of rare sea shells, birds and mammals. Other activities sponsored by the museum include research, the publication of three scientific journals and an educational program."

#OTD #NaturalHistoryMuseums #MuseumHistory #IGDelaware #DMNHtoDelMNS @Delawareonline

Holly the Russian Tortoise loved wandering outside

Holly the Russian Tortoise loved wandering outside at @winterthurmuse with her human friends. Join us and meet more of our Animal Ambassadors, plus enjoy a lot of other fun activities!

#WinterthurSpringFling #tortoisesofinstagram #IGDelaware @winterthurmuse

Today, according to the people who make up days co

Today, according to the people who make up days commemorating various things, it's Clams on the Half Shell Day. With the 10th largest mollusk collection in North America, DMNH clearly has a great interest in such topics. One of the older exhibits at the Museum, now removed for our renovations, featured the mollusk as table delicacy, including a 1970s era menu from @columbusinn with Clams Casino for only $3.50.

(Please note, we did not see Clams Casino on the Columbus Inn's current menu. It probably wouldn't cost $3.50 now anyway).

#NaturalHistoryMuseums #IGDelaware #DMNHtoDelMNS #Clamsonthehalfshell

The walls in the Hall of Birds are coming down. Th

The walls in the Hall of Birds are coming down. This time next year, this view will be of the Delaware Regional Gallery!

#DMNHtoDelMNS #IGDelaware #NaturalHistoryMuseums

March 20 is World Frog Day! Meet Steve, one of our

March 20 is World Frog Day! Meet Steve, one of our Animal Ambassadors. He’s a
fire-bellied toad, a species of frog that belong to the genus Bombina. These special toads have aposematic coloring on their bellies. The bright color tells predators that they are toxic. In order to show off their red undersides, fire-bellied toads have an "unkenreflex", a special behavior where they arch backwards and contort their bodies so that their bellies are visible to predators.

#WorldFrogDay #WorldFrogDay2021 #AnimalAmbassadors #IGDelaware #frog

Load More... Follow on Instagram

Thanks to our generous sponsors