The Natural History Museum

San Diego Natural History Museum

At the San Diego Natural History Museum learn about and appreciate our natural environment. Founded in 1874, the San Diego Society of Natural History is the oldest scientific institution in southern California. The Museum’s exhibitions focus on the unique and biodiverse southern California region. Current exhibits include Fossil Mysteries, a highly interactive exhibition, explores big themes in science: evolution, extinction, ecology, and Earth processes. Also on exhibit is Coast to Cactus in Southern California. This is a permanent exhibition that takes visitors on a journey through this amazing place we call home. Not only is San Diego one of the nicest places to visit, it’s one of the most interesting places in the world due to its amazing diversity of plant and animal life. The coastline, mountains, deserts, and more – it’s all here, ready to be explored!

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The San Diego Natural History Museum will be the premier collections-based environmental education and natural history research resource in our region. We will provide programs that are timely, user-friendly, and relevant to the real-life needs of the diverse populations of the San Diego-Baja California region today and tomorrow.

***Not only does the museum feature fascinating exhibitions but also a giant-screen Dolby digital 3D theater! See coupon offer

Current Exhibits include:

Baja’s Wild Side

May 15, 2017 through January 14, 2018

Baja’s Wild Side features the breathtaking photography of Dr. Dan Cartamil, a shark expert and marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as he explores Baja California’s Pacific coast region.

The Cerutti Mastodon Discovery
April 26, 2017 through January 14, 2018

An Ice Age paleontological-turned-archaeological site in San Diego excavated by Museum staff preserves 130,000-year-old mastodon bones, molars, and tusks that show evidence of modification by early humans. Analysis of these finds dramatically revises the timeline for when humans first reached the Americas, according to a paper scheduled to be published in the April 27 issue of the prestigious science journal Nature.