The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

The throwback continues! During Christmas break of 2019, I traveled to North Carolina. The trip included visiting two state museums. In the morning, my partner and I explored the North Carolina Museum of History. After breaking for lunch, we headed next door to the North Carolina Musuem of Natural Sciences.

That’s right, I toured two museums IN ONE DAY.

Jam packed with history, we visited the North Carolina Museum of History in the morning. By the time my partner and I finished up at the North Carolina Museum of History and grabbed a bite to eat, our day of museum hopping was only half done.

We still had the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to explore!

About the Museum

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is the most visited and oldest museum in the state, having opened in 1879.

As a Smithsonian affiliate, like the North Carolina Museum of History, the museum is nationally recognized for its excellence in preservation, presentation, and education.

Besides their four floors of exhibitions, the museum is home to a living collection, which includes an array of animals.

The institute is also a research centre. Prioritizing education, community engagement, and diversifying their exhibitions, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences stands as the largest museums of its kind in the Southeastern United States.

The museum is split into two major sections: the Nature Exploration Centre and the Nature Research Centre.

While the Nature Exploration Centre includes the main museum building, the Nature Research Centre is a wing located across the street. This addition is much newer, having opened in 2012.

This blog post focuses solely on my visit to the Nature Exploration Centre.

Front of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences from the outside.

Admission

As the NC Museum of Natural Sciences is a state funded museum, admission is FREE!

I cannot tell you how excited I was to learn that this major museum was made more accessible through free admission.

Unlike the NC Museum of History, this museum charges for copies of their maps. If you’re not interested in purchasing the print copy, you can use the digital version of the map on the museum’s website.

Or just go for it! Delve into the museum and see what you find!

Accessibility

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has stairs and elevators. Their exhibitions, stores, and washrooms are accessible.

The Layout of the Museum

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Exploration Centre has 4 floors. And let me tell you, the place is huge!

Here’s a summary of what each floor includes:

The fourth floor, along with the café, also has a live conservatory.

The third floor focuses on dinosaurs, mountains, prehistoric life and even features some live animals.

The second floor teaches visitors about the ocean and underground.

The first floor hosts the ticket booth, gift shop, a 3D theater and some interesting artifacts and art pieces from the state. It also hosts the coast exhibition.

Due to the vastness of the museum’s collection (it holds more than 1.5 million specimens between their locations), this blog post gives an over view of the themes of each floor and highlighted findings of interest.

Our Visit

We decided to start at the top of the museum, working our way down the floors through exhibitions.

The Live Conservatory

One of the must-do’s of the museum is the live conservatory, located on the fourth floor.

The conservatory is an air locked room that houses animals and insects. Guests are allowed in the space in small groups. The room has lots of plant life. Most animals are kept in their own enclosed spaces.

After waiting in line and going through an air lock, our group made it inside.

One of the first things I notice, besides the trees and plant life, were the butterflies!

Besides the occasional visit in my backyard as a child or googling their beautiful wing patterns, I haven’t spent much time with butterflies up close. The experience did not disappoint.

One even landed on my partner!

Seth has a butterfly on his forehead in the live conservatory! — A butterfly landed on Seth!

Among the animals in the live conservatory, the sloths stole the show. One sloth was hanging upside-down on a rope, looking at the crowd.

A sloth looks at us while it hangs upside down. IT may even be smiling. — Who can say no to an up-side-down smile like this?

This sloth and butterfly even hung out!

We spent around 10 minutes in the conservatory, afterwards going down to the third floor.

Dinosaurs, Mountains, and Prehistoric Life

This third floor focuses largely on extinct animals.

Dinosaur models under the skylight in the museum.

Dinosaurs

First we visited “The Terror of the South”, a section featuring dinosaurs of North Carolina.

There is a mezzanine to look down at this section from the fourth floor (as pictured above).

On the third floor, informative plaques are available to read more about these species. A skylight brightens the exhibition, as dinosaur models tower over visitors.

A dinosaur skull from the Acrocanthosaurus. — The skull of an Acrocanthosaurus.

The “Terror of the South” is a nickname for the Acrocanthosaurus (also called Acro). Though often confused with its look alike the T.rex., the two dinosaurs have some key differences:

Though Acro and T.rex look similar, Acro was both shorter and lighter than T.rex.
Acro lived in Southern North America and its fossils are rare, whereas T.rex largely lived in Western North America and bones from the specifies are commonly found.
The two also lived at different times. Acro lived in the early Cretaceous (110 million years ago), whereas T.rex in the late Cretaceous (65 million years ago).

The museum holds a rare skeleton of the Acro. It is the most complete specimen in the world and the only real Acro skeleton on display publicly.

Full skeleton of the Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur. — The skeleton of an Acrocanthosaurus.

Prehistoric Life

The museum has a large exhibition exploring prehistory.

Besides skeletons of dinosaurs that died during the great extinction about 66 million years ago, there are also some unexpected animals. One includes the Giant Sloth, which lived 1.5 million years ago!

Many of the skeletons are set up in displays, placing them in mock environments to show what their lives may have resembled.

A skeleton in a display at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Mountains

In the middle of the floor are mountain themed dioramas. The section is life-sized, meaning that you can walk alongside the exhibition as if you were beside a real mountain.

Forest in the mountain exhibition of the museum.

Realistic trees, rocks, plants, and even a working waterfall are on display.

Plaques surround the area, describing the plants and animals one would find. There are even ponds housing fish and a snapping turtle!

A fake but functional waterfall inside the museum!

The Ocean and Underground

On the second floor, the visitor is immersed in ocean life on the North Carolina coast.

The Ocean

In this space is a tunnel, which makes the visitor feel as though they’re walking on the ocean floor.

A whale skeleton also hangs above the exhibition. Featured are the bones of three different types of whales: the Blue Whale, True’s Beaked Whale, and a Sperm Whale. There are also pieces of a Right Whale that has been on display for over a 100 years. These skeletons often have names and histories of their own.

It is also fascinating to see the scale of a real whale and just how massive they are!

Tunnel going through an ocean display at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Seth is standing in the middle smiling.

The Underground

Another exhibition located on this floor is North Carolina’s underground. It is home to all four types of gemstones (emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds).

North Carolina has a long history of mining as it is a mineral rich state. It was also the location of the country’s first gold rush!

Gemstones in the museum's Underground exhibition. — Some of the many types of gemstones found in North Carolina.

More about life underground and how soil forms is detailed in this section of the museum.

The Coast and Natural Treasures of North Carolina

The first floor hosts an off-branch of the ocean exhibition – the coast.

The Coast

Different habitats from dunes to saltmarshes are included in this exhibition. There are lifelike displays, such as these birds on the beach.

Aquariums that house small aquatic animals, such as sea horses, line the walls.

A seahorse in an aquarium at the museum. — Tried to snap a photo of this sea horse before they swam away.

Natural Treasures of North Carolina

Visitors are exposed to a variety of taxidermized animals and objects displaying North Carolina’s diverse natural history.

Some of the specimens are from animals long extinct, while others are unique to the area.

Included is the Venus Fly Trap, which is native only to North Carolina.

The Carolina Parakeet, now extinct, can also be seen in the exhibition.

Final Thoughts

I have to say, I would highly recommend spending a day, rather than a few hours, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This museum is PACKED with facts, plaques, models, art, and live animals.

The museum even has a café! If you would rather venture off site for a bite to eat, there are lots of local restaurants and cafes in downtown Raleigh.

If you are looking for a souvenir, the gift shop also has a variety of gift ideas from stuffed animals, candy, trinkets, and my personal favouties: post cards.