Join us at the UCMP on Cal Day, Saturday April 17!  Events run from 9am to 4pm; check the schedule for a full listing of activities. Here are just a few of the Cal Day events at the UCMP:

~ Take a tour of the collections with a museum scientist. The collections are open to the public just one day a year, so this is your chance! Tours are held throughout the day, but tickets are first-come, first- served, and they go fast — come early to pick up your free tickets in advance.

~ Visit the special mini-exhibit, If You Build It They Will Come: New Construction Means New Fossils. See the bones of a short-faced bear found while digging the Alameda Tube. Check out a ground sloth discovered while building the Oakland Coliseum. Look at mammoth teeth found right here in Berkeley while excavating for the Downtown Berkeley BART station. And learn what might be uncovered in upcoming construction projects, like the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel and the construction of California’s high-speed rail line. To learn more about fossils found during construction, see the recent blog post Fossils found fortuitously.

~ Search for fossils in the hands-on Fun with Fossils activity. You’ll find real fossilized fish scales and maybe even a dino tooth!

~ Enjoy a talk by a UCMP scientist.

• Evolution’s Big Bang: Explaining the Cambrian Explosion of Animals, with Charles Marshall, 11am.
• The Sierra Nevada: Old or New? Higher or Lower? What Fossil Plants Tell Us, with Lenny Kouwenberg, 1pm.
• The Life and Times of Triceratops, with Mark Goodwin, 2pm.

~  Think you’ve found a fossil? Bring it to the Biodiversity Road Show and expert paleontologists will help you identify it. Experts from botany, zoology, and entomology will be there too, so bring in any specimens you’re curious about.

To get a taste of what’s in store, check out this audio slide show, Cal Day at the UCMP, which shows highlights from Cal Day 2009.

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UPDATE!

Thank you for joining us for Cal Day 2010! To look at some photos from the day, check out Cal Day at the UCMP.