Skip to Main content

ASNHC Hosting Open House

October 07, 2013

Angelo State University’s Department of Biology will host an Open House for its Angelo State Natural History Collections (ASNHC) on Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Cavness Science Building, 2460 Dena Drive.

The event will run from 5-7 p.m. in Room 100 of the Cavness Building and is open free to the public.  Activities will include a presentation by Dr. Terry Maxwell, professor of biology, titled “Natural History Writing” at 6 p.m., as well as tours of the ASNHC and a reception.  Maxwell and fellow biology faculty Dr. Loren Ammerman will also be signing copies of their most recent publications, and a limited number of their books will be available.

Maxwell recently published his life’s work in Wildlife of the Concho Valley.  It provides a comprehensive summary of animal life in the region and is illustrated by Maxwell’s own drawings, photographs and maps.

Ammerman recently published her award-winning research in Bats of Texas.  No other state has more bats than Texas, and Ammerman’s text serves as the definitive field guide and all-around reference of choice for amateur naturalists and wildlife biologists.

The ASNHC contains more than 100,000 specimens of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and plants from the Concho Valley, other regions of Texas, many other states, Mexico, Africa, Asia, Australia and even the Galápagos Islands.  The collections aid student and faculty research projects, are used as teaching tools, and are viewed by thousands of K-12 students every year through special programs like ASU Science Days.

In 2012, ASU was awarded a $480,865 grant from the National Science Foundation to modernize and digitize the ASNHC and make all the specimens available to researchers and educators around the globe on worldwide online databases.

For more information, call the ASU Biology Department at 325-942-2189.