We had the opportunity to visit the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, where we learned about the cultural and natural history of Hawai'i. We started the visit with a behind the scenes tour of one of the six natural collections of the museum. This included preserved birds like the nēnē, the official state bird of Hawai'i, mammals like the Hawaiian hoary bat, reptiles and amphibians. We were
able to learn about the evolutionary and natural history of these different animals. Then we went to the Pacific Center for Molecular Biodiversity in which we had a presentation of the importance and the work that the museum does. One of the biggest jobs is the barcoding of the species of Hawai'i. We went to the Malacology collection where we saw the snail live collection and learned about them. After our behind the scenes tour we had the opportunity to tour the museum where we saw the history of Hawai'i from the first habitants, their beliefs, agricultural techniques, and their political development. We had the opportunity to go to the interactive children's collections which were a lot of fun. Finally, we enjoyed the Tatau: Marks of Polynesia Closing Festival and we had the opportunity to see how they make tattoos and eat Samoan food.
