STERNBERG MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Fort Hays State University
3000 Sternberg Drive
Hays, KS 67601
(877) 332-1165

Tuesday - Saturday 9 AM - 6 PM           Sunday 1 - 6 PM
Open Mondays from mid March - September
Adults: $10       4-12: $7     over 60: $9

Sternberg Museum Map    Kansas Fossil & Geology Attractions

Sternberg Museum of Natural History - Hays, Kansas
Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Sternberg Museum of Natural History - Hays, Kansas

The Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas is very nearly a destination by itself. If the rotating exhibits interest you, it may take 2-3 hours see everything. If not, a visit will take about an hour and a half. The exhibits are attractive and interesting, I just wish the museum was able to exhibit more of the University's 3,750,000 specimens.

The permanent exhibits on the main floor of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History include fossils collected from across Kansas and (mostly) around the western US. There are also mineral exhibits and videos explaining the history of the museum and story of the collecting of the museum's famous "Fish within a fish."

A ramp leads up to the top floor of the Sternberg Museum. Along the way, you pass through life size displays recreating the seas of Kansas from 70 million years ago and leading up to displays of what might have been found near the shore. Some of the recreated life size prehistoric animals move or make noises.

The Sternberg Museum of Natural History has a large gift shop and book store, but if you visit the museum late in the day, be sure to go there first. In the evenings, the store closes an hour before the museum.

Main exhibit hall of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Main exhibit hall


This 14' Xiphactinus ate a 6' Gillicus shortly before dying - excavated in Gove County, Kansas in 1952

Sternberg Museum of Natural History fossils
Many of the displays challenge the viewers to examine the fossils and make their own
guesses at how the ancient animals moved or ate.

Plesiosaur - Sternberg Museum of Natural History
The remains of many Plesiosaurs have been found in Kansas.


The saber-tooth cat roamed North America during the ice age

duck-billed Dinosaur at the Sterberg Museum  in Hays
30' tall duck-billed Dinosaur Corythosaurus

Flying dinosaurs at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas
Pteranodon sternbergi (named for George Sternberg) soar overhead as a 10' long, short-necked
Plesiosaur Dolichorhynchops crawls onto the beech

Sterburg museum massasauga rattle snake
Rattlerssss: From Fear to Fascination exhibit includes live rattle snakes like this massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus).

Sternberg Discovery Room
The Sternberg Discovery Room enables visitors to actively experience the process of discovery
and hands on learning with real specimens

Sternberg Museum Excavations Gift Shop
Excavations Gift Shop

Sternberg Museum Map - Hays, Kansas
Sternberg Museum Map

Sternberg Museum of Natural History web site
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