On Sunday, October 6th, you could see kids walking casually into the U-M Museum of Natural History holding rocks in both hands -and nobody was stopping them. Others walked in with pieces of horns found on hiking trips or family heirlooms and “mystery objects” from their attics. They all were in the right place and the right event: ID DAY.
Our department has been a long-time sponsor of ID DAY and each year collaborates with the Museum of Natural History to make the event so popular.
This year, eighteen of our students, faculty, and staff volunteered to share their knowledge with the community, talk about their research, and present the collections of the Research Museums Center. Many more of our researchers and staff showed up to support the event informally, take pictures, and answer all the questions they could. And there were a lot of questions. Admittedly, ID Day 2024 was a huge success!
With EEB’s help, ID DAY:
- Served ~500 visitors
- Identified 300+ individual objects
- Verified 70 unique objects
- Sparked curiosity and wonder
- Solved generations-old mysteries Demystified family heirlooms
- Gave children and adults a chance to see their favorite creatures in real life!
Looking forward to next year!
