The University of Kansas Natural History Museum is part of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, which is itself part of the KU Biodiversity Institute.
The museum's galleries are in Dyche Hall on the university's main campus in Lawrence, Kansas. The galleries are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Dyche Hall has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 14, 1974; it was listed for its connection with Lewis Lindsay Dyche and for its distinctive Romanesque style of architecture.
The museum has developed some groundbreaking programs in the area of collection management and biodiversity informatics, which uses collections data for forecasting environmental phenomena. The museum has a 3D scanner and has used it to create 3D image scans of its invertebrate fossil collection. In 2006 and 2007, the museum's insect researchers and collection, along with its collection of bird skeletons and parts of its extensive mammal collection, were moved to a new facility on the university's West Campus. Among the collection's more unique and interesting specimens are several "jackalopes" (rabbits with Shope's papillomavirus disease), and Comanche (horse), a survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
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