Georgia Museum of Natural History now easier to find

Many people don't even know the museum exists, much less how to find it on the University of Georgia campus, even though its constantly growing collections now number more than 6 million specimens.Most of the museum's holdings are stored off the main UGA campus in an Atlanta Highway warehouse, but some are on public display in a small gallery space in the museum's headquarters, hidden near the UGA steam plant at the intersection of Cedar Drive and East Campus Road.

But last week, workers from UGA's Physical Plant hung two large fiberglass models from the museum's outside brick walls — a big white shark and an orca, or killer whale — which now mark the museum's entrance.“We put them up there to advertise the presence of the museum,” said museum director Bud Freeman. “I think it's going to generate interest, and that's what we're after.”

The two models once were part of a museum in the state Capitol building, but a few years ago, state officials shut down the natural history section of that museum to concentrate on the political and historical exhibits. The models of the shark and whale have been in storage at UGA since, but recently the museum commissioned a taxidermist to spiff up the models, repainting them and coating them with clear preservative.Micro Stock racing on the rise.