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Las Vegas Natural History Museum
The Las Vegas Natural History
Museum can be found in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada and is a private
non-profit museum that is also across the street from the Lied
Discovery Children's Museum. The majority of the displays concern
what was once an ancient sea bed that encompassed the area that
became Las Vegas. The museum began in 1989, when a little group of
people from the city help them find a place to house the
pre-existing collection of wildlife and prehistoric displays. The
city bought a building that is part of the cultural quarters of the
city, and leased the structure to the museum for a dollar a year.
The museum is responsible for all upkeep and maintenance. Using help
from local businesses and private people, the museum opened in 1991,
with a diversified collection of prehistoric and wildlife, but on
loan, until it was able to showcase its own marvelous collection
that has become world class in scope and a wonderful place for
education and interactive learning. Going to all the four corners of
the world, from the deserts to the oceans, from the state to Africa,
and prehistoric time to the present, everyone will have a great
opportunity to journey through the ages and across the globe. People
coming here will have the chance to discover how archeologists in
the early 20th century discovered the secret treasures of Egypt,
that included the world famous King Tutankhamen's tomb. A wonderful
replica of the tomb has been recreated in the museum, that brings
you to an exact copy of the entrance to the tomb, and fantastic
relics that were found that includes the Golden Shrine, outer
sarcophagus, chariots and the Golden Throne. You can examine an
Egyptian mummy using state-of-the-art machines that will let you
scan the mummy in real time and see the original images of that
mummy. In the Engelstad Family prehistoric life gallery, you will be
amazed at the 35 foot tyrannosaurus rex that can lower his head and
roar using animatronics. You can see a triceratops, treacherous
raptor and ankylosaur, plus a ichthyosaur, that was a huge marine
reptile that had swum in the waters of the region during the age of
dinosaurs. In the International wildlife gallery you will visit many
variations of animal adaptations of the mammal family with numerous
taxidermied species that include; deer, antelope, bears, big cats
and wild dogs. The Las Vegas founders' African galleries have
constructed a huge savanna where you can view the awesomeness of the
Serengeti that has a replicated watering hole where predators and
prey come to drink and usually one or the other is soon missing.
Their rainforest display contains the wildlife found in the jungle,
you can learn about the many creatures that hide in and around the
trees and thick brush, as well as watch a thunderstorm arrive with
torrents of rain and lightning. The E. L. Wiegand foundation, wild
Nevada gallery showcases the incredible Mojave Desert and all the
plants and animals that live around the area with a multi-sensory
gallery, animation and interactive exhibits. The Marine Life gallery
will be able to watch stingrays and sharks in a 3000 gallon tank
full of beautiful and exotic fish and other creatures of the deep,
with many life-size copies of these colorful fish hanging from the
ceilings and walls. There are many live animals in this realm, with
Burmese pythons, lizards, scorpions, tarantulas and snakes. At the
MGM/Mirage young scientist center, families can try their hand a t
paleontology and dig for fossils or go in a sub to travel the
ocean's floor discovering unbelievable species that you can look at
through microscopes, interactive displays and computers. Their
geology gallery keeps an update of the latest science news, and
showcases gorgeous minerals, many that are fluorescent and other
geological natural resources.
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