3,000 Square Foot Interactive Exhibit from the Museum of Discovery

The Museum of Discovery is proud to introduce our latest traveling exhibit for rent:  PREDATORS.  Intriguing, engaging, yet educational hands-on exhibits offer insight into the lives of some of the most dangerous animals on land, sea, and in the sky.  How did the dinosaurs track their prey, and what was their favorite meal?  Do common house cats and the big cats of Africa still have common traits?  What is the most dangerous animal in the ocean?  Join the Museum of Discovery as we take you on an adventurous look into the lives of PREDATORS.

Participants will be challenged through a variety of interactives to synthesize their learning by comparing and contrasting animals.  This 3,000 square-foot exhibit will explore how predators are equipped to fulfill their role in the natural world.  Three Life Zones:  Water, Air and Land help categorize each predator.  Animals in each zone will be examined in the areas of senses, tracking, capturing, and killing their prey.  Both contemporary and prehistoric predators in North America as well as the larger World View for each zone will be explored, including dinosaurs.  Other animals included are cats, wolves, bears, praying mantis, birds of prey, bats, pterodactyls, sharks, Orcas, jellyfish, crocodiles, and alligators.

What are predators and what do they like to eat?  Pull up a chair at the Carnivore Cafe and find out!  Check out your new reflection in animal-vision, where mirrors show your eyes in the face of a carnivore.  Decide what meal deal YOU want based on your new identify.  Interactive Reponses offer the correct answer from a list of menu selections.  Choose what you think you'd like to eat and learn why you would or would not like the meal you've chosen.  Learn about the major groups of predators and how and why they go after their prey.

Find out why animal predators frighten humans as the Museum of Discovery explores the popular culture surrounding the subject.  Did the author of the book Jaws and the moviemaker have any idea how much impact it would have on our society?  Learn how popular culture has influenced, even damaged, the world of predators.

Sharks may have the strongest sense of small of any animal in the world.  They can recognize 1 part of blood in 1,000,000 parts of water, a physical representation you can see for yourself in this exhibit.  See how this sense of smell makes sharks some of the most feared predators in history.  Learn about their other senses, including the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which allows them to sense the small electrical impulses given off by all living creatures.  A hidden animal is not always a safe one with a shark nearby, and you can sense like a shark and find your hidden meal.  

See like a shark as you look at comparisons between human sand shark vision.   For many years, scientists thought sharks had poor vision, but recent research has proven that theory false.  Look through scopes showing the difference in vision between humans and sharks.

Their fantastic sense are not the only weapons sharks use:  shark, teeth and skin also damage almost anything they touch.  Sharkskin is made up of denticles, or pieces shaped like little teeth, that can become imbedded in whatever is rubbed against the shark.  Shark teeth are on a "convey9or belt" that continually replaces lost teeth with backups.  Turn the wheel on the "Teethomatic" and see how a lost tooth is replaced by a new one.  See teeth from modern sharks as well as their impressive ancestors. 

Sharks have been called "boneless fish" because their skeletons are cartilage, not bone.  This flexibility allows even greater speed and maneuverability in the water.  See how humans are like sharks as you find the cartilage in your own body.  See differences between sharks and "bony fish" whose skeletons are mode of bone, like ours.

Lantern fish are some of the most interesting creatures in the sea.  Our interactive exhibit will get you "face to fish" as you learn how anglerfish use glowing bacteria to attract their prey.

All orcas look alike, or do they?  We know killer whales as the stars of television, motion pictures, and marine shows.  Researchers have ways to identify individual whales by their dorsal fines.  See how you measure up as you attempt to ID an Orca.

Use your new knowledge in Making Connections between predators.  Decide what senses each predator uses in tracking their prey and what weapons they  use for capturing and killing.  Computer responses offer confirmation on your selections.

Relive childhood memories and make new ones as you play Wolf Charades.  See how canines communicate with body language and practice Wolf Charades with other visitors.

Now that you know how and why animals attack, how can you protect yourself?  See how "playing opossum" can save your life, making noise can divert danger, and wearing a mask can protect against attack.  Put your knowledge to use and make a mask like the ones that may protect against Bengal Tiger attacks.

Learn about animals people love to hate, and also hate to love.  Experience the Museum of Discovery's "Predators" and find out why we are so fascinated by them - if you dare!

[Click here to see pictures of the Predator exhibit]

 

Exhibit Details Chart