Alabama Museum of Natural History

𝘊𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪, or the Saban crab 🦀, made its debut on ESPN College GameDay! This fossil is housed in UA Museums' paleontology collection under the care of the Department of Museum Research and Collections.

LEARN MORE: ➡️ bit.ly/46Mrhxm

Meet the Saban Crab: UA Scientists Discover Ancient Species in Alabama A new University of Alabama study of 65-million-year-old crab and shrimp fossils from central Alabama yielded multiple new species and genera.

A team led by University of Alabama researchers have discovered several ancient crab and shrimp fossils from central Alabama — including one they have named after legendary football coach Nick Saban.

READ MORE: ➡️ bit.ly/3KxKStJ

#Alabama #RollTide #UniversityOfAlabama

Crikey! The Alabama Museum of Natural History has unveiled a new exhibit! Allow us to introduce our newest Cretaceous crocodilian, 𝘋𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘴. These "terrible crocodiles" would have preyed upon both aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, including larger dinosaurs!

#FossilFriday #UniversityOfAlabama

Long-Term Volunteer Highlight: An Interview with "Bing" Blewitt Dr. Harry "Bing" Blewitt has volunteered around 7,500 hours over the last 27 years with The University of Alabama Museums and helped to put more than 3000 records in the collections. "Bing" is also the 2023 Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Awardee. • Volunteer Achievement Award: https://bit.ly/48nmG76 • Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award: https://bit.ly/48nmG76 • Research & Collections Website: https://collections.museums.ua.edu/ • The University of Alabama Museums Website: https://museums.ua.edu/ • Become a UA Museums Supporting Member: https://bit.ly/3ok8RxB Credits: • Video Shot and Edited By: Rebecca Johnson, UA Museums' Communications Specialist • Drone Footage: The University of Alabama's Division of Strategic Communications • Music: Kyle Cox - Worth the Squeeze - Instrumental version Bunker Buster - Sun Lover Hey Judy - Hahaha - Instrumental version Campagna - All the Way Home #Museums #NaturalHistoryMuseum #NaturalHistory #MuseumCollections #UniversityOfAlabama

Dr. Harry "Bing" Blewitt has volunteered around 7,500 hours over the last 27 years with The University of Alabama Museums and helped to put more than 3000 records in the collections!

WATCH: ➡️ bit.ly/46nn7go

#UniversityOfAlabama #Museums #Paleontology #Fossils

The Alabama Museum of Natural History's "Excavating Erasure: Jefferson Davis Jackson" exhibit has been selected for the Bronze Award in the Under $10,000 budget category by the Southeastern Museums Conference!

READ MORE: ➡️ bit.ly/4mpQiUK

#Museums #Alabama #UniversityOfAlabama

Thanks to everyone who visited the Alabama Museum of Natural History for our crocodilian-themed "Alabama Fossil Fest"! We hope you enjoyed talking with paleontologists, participating in our educational programming, seeing our new exhibit unveiling, and attending the presentations.

Have an eye-conic time at the free, all-ages, and Crocodilian-themed "Alabama Fossil Fest" today from 1:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Alabama Museum of Natural History!

VIEW SCHEDULE: ➡️ bit.ly/42kzHKQ

Note: The Museum will be closed until 1:00 p.m.

#Tuscaloosa #RollTide #Alabama

I got taxidermized goat and a muskox next to posters about them

We made some Gaston-style decor updates to the CVN lab today, thanks to a loan from @almnh.bsky.social !

Marble Bowl 2025 - The University of Alabama The Marble Bowl pits this project against all other schools in the 2025 challenge. Current scores can be viewed by joining the project "The Marble Bowl" - https://www.inaturalist.org/project...

Make nature observations during this year's Marble Bowl competition on the Alabama Museum of Natural History's team!

JOIN THE TEAM: ➡️ bit.ly/4671lw3

#UniversityOfAlabama #RollTide

Mosasaur jaw found in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public. This Cretaceous (~84 million-year-old) specimen is now in the ALMNH paleontology collection.

In July, Kaylee Baize and Ava Broyles found a great piece of a mosasaur jaw in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public.

Discovery Alert‼️In July, Kaylee Baize and Ava Broyles found a great piece of a mosasaur jaw in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public. This Cretaceous (~84 million-year-old) specimen is now in the @almnh.bsky.social paleontology collection. #FossilFriday #paleontology #fossil

Discovery alert‼️A ~84 million-year-old hadrosaur dinosaur tooth was found by ALMNH director Dr. John Friel during a recent Alabama Museum of Natural History summer trip to shark tooth creek in western Alabama.
#FossilFriday! @friel.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social #Cretaceous #paleontology #fossil 😀

To celebrate another semester starting at The University of Alabama, we are excited to announce our first-ever students-only Fossil Excursion on August 30! Available at a discounted price ($20/person) for currently enrolled UA students.

REGISTER: ➡️ bit.ly/456DbkJ

Bringing Science to the People and the People to Science The UA summer fossil expeditions are one way the UA community can engage with world class natural history research collections.

Read about how the Alabama Museum of Natural History and The University of Alabama Museums' Department of Museum Research and Collections are fostering a love of fossils and the natural world through community science!

news.ua.edu/2025/07/scie...

#Museums #UniversityOfAlabama #Fossils

As we adventure on July's Fossil Excursions, here's a look back at our trips on June 17 and June 28! Thanks to everyone who joined us on the search for fossils and we look forward to new experiences and findings in July.

Research Alert ‼️ Why were ~50 enigmatic, small crustaceans from the Carboniferous Period found clustered together?

Short News Story: ➡️ bit.ly/44ba40u

For the #4thOfJuly weekend, the Alabama Museum of Natural History will be closed on Friday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5, 2025 and will reopen on Monday, July 7, 2025. We hope you have a fun and safe holiday weekend.

A lifesize reconstructed Deinosuchus skull mount surrounded by several UA Museums staff members.

Crikey! @almnh.bsky.social received a special delivery from Triebold Paleontology today for #FossilFriday, and museum staff are already bonding with our new life-size #Deinosuchus friend as we get it ready for a future exhibit.

Painting With the Earth: An Interview with John “Jahni” Moore The Alabama Museum of Natural History celebrates the life and contributions of Jefferson Davis Jackson with a permanent exhibition and portrait created by Alabama artist, John “Jahni” Moore. “Mr. J.D.” spent 65+ years of his life working for The University of Alabama formally as a janitor and cook; however, he performed the duties of a geologist, paleontologist, archaeologist, and exhibition designer. As he gave his life to the Museum, he will be permanently honored alongside Eugene Allen Smith in the Grand Gallery. • John “Jahni” Moore: https://jahnitheartist.com/ • Alabama Museum of Natural History: https://bit.ly/3un9MPh • The University of Alabama Museums: https://museums.ua.edu/ • Become a UA Museums Supporting Member: https://bit.ly/3ok8RxB • Become a UA Museums Student Member: https://bit.ly/3gerFsf Credits: • Video Shot and Edited by Rebecca Johnson, UA Museums' Communications Specialist • Music: Magiksolo - Flower Pot | Vicate - Sunchilling #Museums #MuseumExhibition #NaturalHistoryMuseum #Museum #Alabama

At the Alabama Museum of Natural History, we strive to commemorate the past, reflect on the present, and embrace the future. We're excited to share an interview with artist Jahni Moore, the creative behind the Jefferson Davis Jackson portrait in Smith Hall.

WATCH: ➡️ bit.ly/43N3VHP

#Juneteenth

#FossilFriday‼️🦀🦞🦐 Next week, together with Danish colleagues, I am organizing the 9th Symposium on Fossil Decapod Crustaceans in Faxe, Denmark. Abstract and program books are printed. We will welcome everyone starting on Monday! Website: tiny.cc/fx4m001 #fossil @almnh.bsky.social #paleontology

Basilosaurus skeleton in a museum Hall

Say hello to Basilosaurus cetoides, an ancient whale from the Eocene Gulf coast region, and the State Fossil of Alabama! @almnh.bsky.social

Clidastes skull in gray chalk matrix

Broader view of the same specimen

A second jacket, with the posterior part of the body

"Artemis" - a Clidastes specimen from the Mooreville Chalk Formation in Alabama, and one of the most complete mosasaur skeletons (and certainly the best I've seen from the Eastern US) @almnh.bsky.social

‼️Research alert for #FossilFriday‼️ Well-preserved, ~69 million-year-old ammonites from South Dakota show two type of lethal injuries: lateral punch holes and ventral bite marks in 7.3% of the 1303 shells. Crustaceans and coleoids may be the predators. Read more: tiny.cc/wogl001 @almnh.bsky.social

Following the successful opening of the Alabama Museum of Natural History's "Excavating Erasure: Jefferson Davis Jackson" exhibit, the incredible portrait by Jahni Moore is now permanently on display in Smith Hall. We are thrilled to have this incredible memorial on display!

#Tuscaloosa #Alabama

#FossilFriday‼️ 😲 Remarkably large (~20" or 50 cm) ammonite from an Alabama creek exposing Upper Cretaceous sediments. The specimen is still underwater in this photo (see tadpoles 🐸). Specimen @almnh.bsky.social. Discovered by George Martin. #paleontology #fossil #Alabama

When you visit the #Alabama #Museum of Natural History, step inside The Think Tank on the Mezzanine Level of the Grand Gallery! This all-ages space invites you to try on lab coats and goggles, practice using microscopes, and check out our cabinet of curiosities and insect collection.

Electric slide on over to the Alabama Museum of Natural History on May 27 from 5:45 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. for our next dance cardio class with UA Recreation! This totally tubular class will combine fun DAZE moves with hits straight from your Walkman.

REGISTER ➡️ bit.ly/3DI0GqN

#Tuscaloosa #RollTide

We are at the #Tuscaloosa River Market today until Noon so stop by our table to grab one of our brand-new buttons and hear about #Alabama Museum of Natural History exhibits and upcoming events!

#FossilFriday‼️ Cephalopod time! 😀 Internal molds of nautiloid air chambers exposed in a limestone in central Alabama. Nautiloids can be abundant in some Paleocene rocks in the state. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. Discovered by Research Associate Prescott Atkinson. #paleontology #fossil

#FossilFriday‼️ Cephalopod time! 😀 Internal molds of nautiloid air chambers exposed in a limestone in central Alabama. Nautiloids can be abundant in some Paleocene rocks in the state. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. Discovered by Research Associate Prescott Atkinson. #paleontology #fossil

#FossilFriday‼️ Tiny specimens often get overlooked, but they are important parts of ecosystems. Here's a very rare, pyritized, ~82 million-year-old coral from Harrell Station in Alabama. 😲 Collected by Jan Novak during a trip organized for the Birmingham Paleo Society. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social.

😲 #FossilFriday‼️ Not one but two rare, pyritized ammonites were discovered at Harrell Station during a recent trip organized for the Birmingham Paleo Society. The only two non-jaw pieces in the last 5 years! Cretaceous (~82 Ma), Alabama. Collectors: Chase Egli & Adiel Klompmaker @almnh.bsky.social