Expansive Exhibits - Indoors and Out

The Museum's 73,000-square foot building features vast expanses of glass overlooking a 300-acre natural area with 2.5 miles of nature trails and an open-air amphitheater. The building's design encourages visitors to share their time between the indoor exhibits and the outdoor environment. A central atrium with an octagonal skylight illuminates a spectacular exhibit of white-tailed deer and soaring waterfowl. Mississippi's antediluvian past is commemorated in an entire wall of fossil specimens, and a special area for preschoolers is marked by colorful murals and a giant treehouse. The outdoor trails meander through wooded bluffs, river bottoms, lakes, and scenic swamplands, offering opportunities for nature walks, photography, and the study of living things in their environment.

Life-Size Displays and Living Species

In the main exhibition hall, a floating Earth and outsized Mississippi maps put the state in context with the rest of the planet. A series of life-size displays gives visitors a comprehensive sense of Mississippi's diverse habitats, along with an understanding of the relationships that exist among the state's land, plants, animals, and people. A 100,000-gallon aquarium system houses over 200 living species of native fish, reptiles, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates. And a 1,700-square foot greenhouse called "The Swamp," with another 20,000-gallon aquarium, provides a home for alligators, turtles, fish, and a lush native plant garden.

Opportunities for Learning

Along with the exhibits and displays, the Museum includes a 200-seat auditorium. There is also a gift shop, classroom space, a 2,500-square foot library, and a safe storage environment for the Museum's biological archives.