Río Seco Natural History Museum

Located in Punta Arenas, the Río Seco Natural History Museum (MHNRS), seeks to promote the southern austral Chilean culture and preserve the natural heritage of the Magallanes Region through interdisciplinary research and education.

Their work is based on dialogue and creation between biological sciences and visual arts. It is a space that seeks to disseminate knowledge around the Austral Pole, based on the development of collections and cabinets, which are mainly related to the natural and material history of the extreme south of Chile.

Fundación Mar Adentro supports the realization of their continuous educational program since 2016, which is developed by the team of biologists and artists of the Río Seco Natural History Museum, and which consists of the execution of various workshops that link naturalism with artistic techniques, so that children and young adults learn to value, understand and create in the ecosystems of Magellan.

With field trips and by means of learning landscape registration and documentation techniques, the program participants learn about the components of their environment and the different forms of interaction between the natural and the human. They practice naturalistic illustration, analogue photography, casting and molding, animal anatomy, to observe and learn about the different flora and fauna of the four main ecosystems that compose Punta Arenas (wetlands, forests, marshes and the coastal edge). In addition, students learn to use different tools to search for reliable scientific information as well as conducting the different stages of naturalist work, such as the description and understanding of the morphology, adaptation and evolution of Magellan fauna and their relationship with the environment.