ASU Natural History Collections Open House Features Bat Secrets Presentation

SAN ANGELO, TX - Angelo State University's Department of Biology will host its annual Open House for the Angelo State Natural History Collections (ASNHC) on Tuesday, March 3, in Room 100 of the Cavness Science Building at 2460 Dena Drive.

The Open House will run from 5-8 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Activities will include interactive booths hosted by ASNHC curators, tours of the various collections that make up the ASNHC, and other educational programming. Light refreshments will also be served.

Highlighting the event will be a presentation by Dr. Loren Ammerman of the ASU biology faculty titled "Hidden in the Dark: Secrets of the Bats of Texas."

An ASU faculty member since 2001, Ammerman is the C.J. Red Davidson University Professor of Biology and curator of the ASNHC's Genomic Resources Collection. She is also one of the nation's foremost bat researchers, having published scholarly articles in a variety of professional journals, including Journal of Mammalogy, Western Wildlife, Journal of Heredity, Southwestern Naturalist and many others. In fall 2025, her research on the bats at Emory Cave in Big Bend National Park was featured by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

An online silent auction of artworks by the late ASU biology professor, Dr. Terry Maxwell, will also be conducted during the Open House. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Terry C. Maxwell Endowment in Natural History that funds the support, maintenance and growth of the ASNHC, as well as student and faculty research. Items up for bid can be previewed on the auction website at https://one.bidpal.net/2026asnhc.

The ASNHC contains more than 100,000 specimens of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and plants from the Concho Valley, other regions of Texas, many other states, Mexico, Africa, Asia, Australia and even the Galapagos Islands. The collections aid student and faculty research projects, are used as teaching tools, and have been viewed by thousands of K-12 students through special guided tours.