UBC Beaty Biodiveristy Museum

Vancouver’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC features a collection of biological exhibits including animal, plant and insect specimens and fossils.

The museum has been designed to shine a spotlight on why biodiversity is so important and how we can help maintain it.

This article contains the following information about the museum:

Hours and Admission Rates | Beaty Nocturnal Nights | Biodiversity Museum Exhibitions | Other Information

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Home to some 2-million or so specimens, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum displays all kinds of biological organisms including insects, plants and mammals.

The facility’s address is 2212 Main Mall at the University of British Columbia. It was the first biodiversity museum in Canada to publicly display its scientific findings to help educate visitors on what they can do to help the current environmental crisis.

Beaty Museum Bird Display

Hours and Admission Rates

The Museum’s hours are from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm Tuesday to Sunday. It’s closed on Mondays.

Admission rates as of early 2023 are the following:

Adults – $14
Seniors, Students (with ID) and Youth (ages 13 to 17) – $12
Children (ages 5 to 12) – $10
UBC Students and Employees – Free
Families – either $30 or $45 depending on the family size

Children 4 years old and younger get in for free though children 5 to 12 years of age pay $10. There are also annual memberships available for $35 per adult, $25 per senior or student, and $45 to $70 per family.

Beaty Nocturnal Nights

The museum hosts its Beaty Nocturnal event on the third Thursday of most months. They have special evening hours from 5:00 pm until 8:30 pm and admission is by donation during these times.

Beaty Nocturnal Nights didn’t happen in 2020 and much of 2021 because of COVID-19. They started back up again, however, in the fall of 2021.

Dates for Beaty Nocturnal in 2023 are January 19th, February 16th, March 16th, April 20th, May 18th, June 15th, July 20th, August 17th, September 21st, October 19th, November 16th, and December 21st.

For more information about these and other events, see the Beaty Museum’s Calendar.

Biodiversity Museum Exhibitions

Permanent exhibits displayed at the museum include the largest blue whale skeleton in Canada at approximately 86 feet in length. There are casts of dinosaur footprints that were discovered in British Columbia as well. A timeline of Earth’s history is also included which depicts when various organisms lived and went extinct over time.

The museum has many temporary exhibits that often change too. It’s also possible to access online exhibits without having to go to the building itself.

Mammal Heads at Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Other Information

See the official Beaty Biodiversity Museum website to learn more about the museum.

Check out the Museum of Anthropology, UBC Botanical Garden or Nitobe Memorial Garden if you’re on campus and want to visit other places of interest. UBC Botanical Garden also includes the Greenheart TreeWalk.

For more information about the campus see our article about the University of British Columbia.

Other museums and related places of interest in Vancouver include the following: