Visit the the oldest museum in San Diego, and a flagship institution in Balboa Park, featuring the regional natural history and unique biodiversity of Southern California and Baja California! The Museum has four floors of exhibition space, a giant-screen theater, and San Diego’s only Foucault pendulum!

With permanent exhibitions, rotating films, a robust calendar of events and activities, and the opportunity to see scientists at work, the Museum will expose you to fascinating stories about the natural world, fostering a lifelong love of learning and engaging you in a worldwide scientific dialogue.

Current exhibits include:
Action from the Archives: The Nat at 150
We just celebrated 150 years! Our anniversary exhibition features regional conservation success stories—both historic and contemporary—as told through photographs and objects from our archives.

Expedition Baja
The Baja California Peninsula: our neighbor in nature. Explore towing mountains, desert flats, and isolated islands, and follow along with researchers working to conserve the peninsula's wild beauty.

Living Lab
Meet more than 20 of your not-so-cuddly neighbors, from stinging scorpions to elusive nocturnal lizards.

The Backyard
Learn and explore the natural world through play. The Nat's youngest visitors (ages 0-5) can play under a shade tree, search for hidden secrets along a wooden fence, or read their favorite book in a cozy potting shed.

Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage
This exhibition gives visitors a rare look into the Museum's storage areas. Different specimens offer the opportunity to revel in the natural world in all its beauty and peculiarity.

Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science
This exhibition explores the past, present and future of citizen science through rare books, art, photographs, and historical documents.

Coast to Cactus in Southern California
This exhibition will take you on an immersive walk through the major regions of southern California's coast, inland valleys, mountains, and deserts and celebrate the abundant variety of life found here.

Fossil Mysteries
From dinosaurs to megalodons to mastodons, travel through 75 million years and dig into the rich fossil history of southern California and Baja California.

Giant-Screen Theater
The Giant Screen Experience is one-of-a-kind. Settle into the 300-seat, stadium-style theater and enjoy films on the massive screen, included with admission!

Showing Daily: T. REX, Wild San Diego, and Ocean Oasis