Geology Museum to hold open house May 5

Take an illustrated journey to the planets and stars above Madison, discover the odd-looking animals that roamed the Earth before the dinosaurs and dig into a pile of free rock samples during the UW–Madison Geology Museum open house Sunday, May 5.

An annual tradition, the geology open house is a free, family event intended to showcase the treasures of one of the country’s finest small geology museums. Located in Weeks Hall, 1215 W. Dayton St., the open house is an opportunity to see the museum’s exhibits of rocks, minerals and meteorites; to walk through a model of a Wisconsin limestone cave; and to behold the skeletons of a mosasaur, mastodon, saber-toothed cat and the flying reptile Pteranodon.

The program, 1-5 p.m., will include a slide presentation on “Ceratopsians – The Horned Dinosaurs” by Chris Ott, UW–Madison’s dinosaur program supervisor.

Throughout the afternoon, visitors can watch museum staff restore fossil bones, including those of the three-horned dinosaur Triceratops. At 2:30 p.m., children can dig into the free rock pile and take home specimens for their own collection. At 2:45 p.m., learn about the museum’s rarest specimens in “The Museum Quiz,” presented by museum director Klaus Westphal.

For information, contact Westphal, (608) 262-2399.