The Virginia Living Museum in Newport News is part
native wildlife park and part science museum and aquarium. For years locals and
visitors have quietly begun to discover this informative small museum where a
planetarium and abundant botanical specimens and wildlife provided a
multi-disciplinary introduction to Virginia’s natural world.
But "small" is no longer the operative word. An extraordinary
new museum building opened on March 28, 2004, and it is a world-class facility
and a natural world in itself. According to the Museum press release, the
exhibits "go from the upland coves of the Appalachian Mountains to the salty
offshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean."
Visitors are encouraged to touch and experience the
interactive exhibits. Children gingerly reached or out to touch the
wiggling arms on the bottom of a giant horseshoe crab or tap the top of a
skittering spider crab. At other exhibits, there was a series of shelves
covered by a sign with a question about the animal specimen inside. Flip the
sign up and find the answer on the other side. In the box there is a bone,
photography or specimen of the animal. We learned, for example, the differences
between the mole and the vole. Moles are slow-crawling pudgy creatures that eat
bugs as they tunnel underground. Voles are really tiny mice that are certainly
not popular with gardeners; they scurry down mole tunnels and dine on roots of
plants.
Young children particularly enjoy the dinosaur exhibit that
gives them a chance to place their hands on an authentic track made by a Kayentapus that roamed through Virginia over 210 million years ago. These
bipedal dinosaurs were 126 inches high and 10 ˝ feet long. A sample of their
footprints is nine inches long. These tracks were discovered by workers at the
Culpeper Stone Company in a quarry near Stevensburg.
But that's just the beginning. A two-story walk takes
visitors into an Appalachian Cover with a waterfall. Then on to the Coastal
Plain Gallery and a 30,000-gallon Noland Chesapeake Bay Aquarium for a view of
huge sea creatures. A Virginia World of Darkness reveals animals that thrive in
a world without light - including ghost crabs, moon jelly fish and flying
squirrels.
Ducks and songbirds, such as
cardinals, bluebirds and quails, can be found in the Cypress Swamp and
Appalachian Cove. These injured, abandoned and hand-raised birds have no fear of
visitors, and it is easy to get excellent close-up photographs of the colorful
specimens.
From the museum an elevated 3/4 mile boardwalk leads outside along Deer
Park Lake and past the habitats of native water animals like river otters,
raccoons and beavers. A striking outdoor wetlands aviary gives you a chance to
see glossy ibis, elegant herons and a variety of multi-hued ducks and other
waterfowl. The outdoor exhibits also include such woodland creatures as
bobcats, deer, fox, opossum and skunk. You also can get a close look at a pair
of bald eagles.
We were even
treated to an unexpected show right before the closing of the museum for the
day. The red wolves are allowed to roam a wide open area during the day but are
literally herded into a caged area at night. Museum workers and volunteers, clad
in blue jeans, and "armed" like medieval nature knights with brooms and holding
boards as shields tried to push the wolves back into their cage dens. The wolves
were not anxious to go and ran in circles around the "knights." Finally the
wolves wearied of the game and went back to their home den.
Call (757) 595-1900 for more information about hours and
current fees or visit the website at
www.thevlm.org
Directions: From I-95 in the Richmond area, take
I-64 east to Newport News. Take Exit 258A, the J. Clyde Morris Boulevard and a
sign will indicate the museum on your left at 524 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard.
By Jane Ockershausen with additional reporting by Hal Gieseking