For those of you who don’t know, I’m a huge nerd — not only with sci–fi and pop culture, but with biology too. Luckily, University of Florida gives you free* admission to the Florida Museum of Natural History. While small, at least compared to the greats like Fernbank, the Smithsonian, the Field Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in exhibits.
Once you enter past the front desk, you’re immediately greeted by a huge mammoth… or at least, the skeleton of one. There are multiple types of proboscideans — elephants to the common folk — that were found grazing in herds thousands of years ago in North Florida. These, along with many species of ancient equiids, sloths, felids, and marine organisms are beautifully articulated and on display throughout the museum. But more on those later.
rom here, you have a few places to go. Normally, what I do is make a right-handed loop in the museum, starting with the exhibits on the left of the building and working my way around. There is a childrens’ exhibit that was opened for the 100th anniversary which is very interactive and hands-on. It has a variety of different interactive exhibits that outline some of the jobs that biologists do, not just within the museum, but within the university in general.
