Nevada State Museum offers a closer look at state's natural history

There are at least five species of chipmunks, 23 species of bats, banded gila monsters and yellow-bellied marmots in Nevada, and many of them are on exhibit (dead or replicas thereof) at the Nevada State Museum.

"This is a really cool bat," said Dr. George Baumgardner, the museum's natural history curator, as he carefully lifted it from its enclosure.

"It's a spotted bat, which is fairly rare in Nevada and was a candidate for the endangered species list. And this is a long-eared myotis," he said about another species of the flying mammal.

These are just a few of the animals Baumgardner talks about on the behind-the-scenes tours of the museum's natural history displays. Though some displays are not available because of construction, the many items left to see are of great interest to anyone wanting to know about Nevada's past, present and future.

"All items in all areas are of this state," Baumgardner said. "They either occur here or did at one time."

Items such as the great horned owl, the northern raccoon, double-crested cormorant, desert tortoise, rattlesnakes, lizards and the golden eagle.

The tours are offered the last Friday of each month at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended; regular museum fees apply. The next tours are Friday.

The museum also has a collection of herbarium, or pressed plants, available for viewing by appointment.

The geology area contains many of the 850 minerals found in Nevada, including dolomite, smithsonite, wulfenite, tourmaline, turquoise, opals, orpiment and, of course, silver, copper and gold.

"I get asked, 'Why do we have this kind of stuff?'," Baumgardner said. "We have a little bit of everything that occurs in this state, for education, documentation and research and identification."

Baumgardner, who has a Ph.D. in biology, has been with the museum for a little more than 10 years. He'd like to see the services expand.

"We'd like to have a small discovery room, like a laboratory, for the general public to come through and look at and handle stuff, without staff being present."

Baumgardner said the museum is planning a soft opening in May after construction is completed, which will add more space to the downstairs collections.

- Contact Rhonda Costa at rcosta@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1223.c