Releases | New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Announces Plans to Reopen This Week

March 16th, 2021

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (NMMNHS) will safely reopen to the public on Wednesday, March 17, following a temporary closure last month due to positive COVID-19 cases reported by staff members. Museum hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday, and visitation will be limited to 75 people at any one time.

Health and safety is the highest priority for NMMNHS, and the museum has taken every necessary precaution during the closure to prevent, manage, and mitigate the possibility of the virus spreading beyond the facility.

Online ticketing is strongly encouraged in order to facilitate an efficient entrance into the museum and minimize face-to-face contact. Availability is limited. Timed-entry online tickets, with the final entrance of the day at 3 p.m., should be ordered in advance to decrease wait time to enter the museum. No more than five tickets may be purchased at one time. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit nmnaturalhistory.org/visitors/visitor-information.

Cost of admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors 60 and older, and $5 for children ages 3-12, while admission is free for children 2 and younger. New Mexico foster families are admitted free at all times. The Museum will continue to suspend its program of free admission for state residents on the first Sunday of the month.

Upon returning to the museum, visitors can check out “Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies.” This traveling exhibit boasts New Mexico’s young dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous period, such as the Bisti Beast, Pentaceratops, and Parasaurolophus, and includes unique fossils and addresses how dinosaurs gave birth and raised their young. Complementing "Tiny Titans" is the exhibition “Back to Bones," which includes recent discoveries and iconic fossils found in New Mexico collected by NMMNHS.

Another exhibition available for viewing is “Many Inspired Steps: Apollo 11 50th Anniversary” which commemorates the spaceflight mission that first landed humans on the Moon. The exhibit features panels illustrating the story of the mission, from the original dream to the science returned by the astronauts, and includes a variety of popular memorabilia, official NASA science publications, and lunar maps that were used to plan the Apollo landings.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation held its annual fundraiser Chocolate Fantasy online earlier this month, but visitors to the museum can view the incredible chocolate sculptures created for the event until April 18, 2021. The theme for this year’s Chocolate Fantasy was STEAM Punk, in support of the museum’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) educational efforts, and the chocolate works of art were inspired by the steampunk movement of the Victorian era.

About the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science 
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of the Board of Trustees of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation, through the generous support of donors. Established in 1986, the mission of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is to preserve and interpret the distinctive natural and scientific heritage of our state through extraordinary collections, research, exhibits, and programs designed to ignite a passion for lifelong learning. The NMMNHS offers exhibitions, programs, and workshops in Geoscience, including Paleontology and Mineralogy, Bioscience, and Space Science. It is the Southwest’s largest repository for fossils and includes a Planetarium and a large format 3D DynaTheater. 

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Tiny Titans

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