Monthly Family Series
Identification Day
May 11, 2013
Bring your shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones, and artifacts to the annual Identification Day. Scientists will attempt to identify your discoveries while showing you some specimens from their own collections. Items identified in previous years have included a whale jawbone, a green beetle bracelet from Brazil, and a 5,000-year-old stone spear point from Morocco. What could your object be?
NOTE: NO APPRAISALS WILL BE GIVEN, AND GEMSTONES WILL NOT BE IDENTIFIED.
Before you come to Identification Day, here are a few tips that will help scientists identify your specimens:
Anthropology
• Bring as much information on your specimens as possible. If it belongs to a friend or family member, try to get the information from them.
Botany
• Please only bring plants that you have permission to collect.
• Plant samples that have flowers or fruits (or both) are much easier to identify than those without.
• Bring your plant sample in a zip-lock bag (this will keep the plant moist for easier identification and will avoid spreading pests in the Museum).
• Please try to bring fresh (very recently collected) plant samples.
Paleontology
• Bring as much information on your specimen as possible, especially its place of origin.
Herpetology & Mammalogy
• Please do not bring live or dead specimens.
• Photos of your specimens will be most useful for identification.
More in this Series:
Family Bird Walk
June 1, 2013
Families, join a Museum naturalist for a bird walk in Central Park. Young explorers and their parents will learn how to find and identify the many bird species and habitats found in our own “backyard.”
