The Department of Biological Sciences at Sacramento State offers many natural history resources, including museums, arboretums, greenhouses, and more. These are commonly used for classes, but are also available for Sac State students, K-12 school groups, and the community. See below for requesting a tour.

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Vertebrate Museum

The Biology department is home to a vertebrate teaching collection which houses more than 2500 mammals and over 3700 birds. These specimens are used to help teach a variety of organismal biology courses and are also used for student and faculty research projects.

Sequoia 105.
Curator: Michael Almazan

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Greenhouses

Our greenhouses support a diversity of plants from all over the world. These include a dry greenhouse with desert plants from North and South America, as well as Africa. The main greenhouse includes many tropical species, including carnivorous plants. A research greenhouse is also available for use by faculty, undergraduates and graduate students for projects.

Arboretum & Herbarium

Our arboretum contains over 400 species of trees from all over the world. The serene location is suitable for a nice walk, a picnic, or class project. Our herbarium supports a collection of 16,000 plant specimens from North Central California. Collections of Michael Baad and Josephine Van Ness are part of the collection.

Download Plant Map

Ectotherm Collections

Fish Collection

The Sacramento State fish collection is a small, but diverse, collection of fishes, totaling some 2722 lots. Most of the specimens are catalogued by lot number. This collection concentrates on California fishes.

Location: HMB 115

Curator: Dr. Ron Coleman

Herp Collection

The Sacramento State herp collection is a small, teaching-oriented collection of approximately 1722 lots, maintained for hands-on experience identifying reptiles and amphibians in such courses as Herpetology.

Location: HMB 123

Curator: Dr. Ron Coleman

Insect Collection

Sequoia Hall 120A

Curator: