While on our trip to NE, we had the opportunity to visit the Wyobraska Wildlife History Museum. Disclaimer: While I don't deny anyone else their 2nd Ammendment Right, I am NOT a fan of hunting, nor do I own a gun. There may have been a time when humans depended on hunting for their very survival; but for me King Soopers will do just fine. You want to shoot a pheasant or a goose and then eat it for your Christmas dinner, I'm fine with that. You go hiking in the back country and get attacked by a mountain lion and have to defend your family, I'm o.k. with that too! But why would you want to pay thousands of dollars to go to Africa to shoot and kill a lion who's just sittin out on the savannah minding his own business? I don't get it.
Anyway, this particular museum houses over 500 species of animals from all 7 continents. Meaning someone went on a hunting trip, killed the animal(s), stuffed them, mounted them, and brought them to this museum to be displayed. Not exactly my idea of a good time. However, I did think it would be an interesting experience for Katelyn to see these animals up close. There were also many opportunities to touch the animals and that was actually pretty cool. And besides I wouldn't want to come face to face with a real Grizzley or a real Crocodile. And traveling to Africa or Asia or India-not high on my list of places to visit some day.
So I put my moral compass aside and agreed to go to the museum. Glad I did. We had a wonderful time and learned A LOT. All of the animals are diplayed according to their habitat and arranged in the most life-like dioramas I've ever seen. The animals were so well preserved that they looked real and I actually got freaked out a few times. I mean you have no idea how big a Grizzley really is unless it's standing in front of you close enough to touch. And a lion? Huge! Lions just don't look that big on t.v or even at the zoo. Ever touch an African Nile Crocodile hide? Yeah, no plans to do that, right?! The museum is also home to a life-size replica of an extinct Baluchithere(Balu-ka-thir), a hornless Rhinocerus which was the largest mammal known to date. "Ricky the Rhino" as it's called is 19 feet tall and 30 feet long. I tried and tried to get a picture of it, but it was just too big for my camera. You can check out the museum's web site if you want to see a picture of one:
www.WyobraskaWildlifeMuseum.com
1 comment:
Sounds like a really interesting place.
I have a hard time with hunting on several reasons. First of all, I have a hard time with taking something that was minding it's own business, has a family, and ending it's life, but more than that, enjoying the hunt. I don't get it, how could someone like ending something else's life? My second reason is that I wouldn't want to clean or prepare said animal. And third, have you ever tried wild meat? Gross. No thank you.
To each there own, I guess. It's Costco meat for me!
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