Museum Launches Threefold Expansion
BioQuest Harnesses the Wind and Brings Bears, Wolves, & Dinosaurs Closer to Durham Visitors
On April 17, 2004, the Magic Wings Butterfly House at Durham’s Museum of Life and Science (MLS) turned five years old. The butterfly house and its sister exhibit, the Bayer CropScience Insectarium, comprised the earliest phase of the museum’s long-term BioQuest expansion program.
The Insectarium features more than 25 live exotic and native species of insects and insect predators, and an extensive collection of mounted specimens from around the world. Live species include: giant walking sticks, one of the largest known insects; death's head roaches, with heads resembling skulls; giant orb weaver spiders, which range freely but safely along the upper exhibit walls and ceiling; goliath bird-eaters, the largest spider on earth; dead leaf mantids, which resemble a dried, dead leaf; and a giant farm of harvester ants, native insects that actually harvest seeds.
Now, MLS is poised to continue the BioQuest expansion with three more permanent outdoor exhibit spaces.
- BioQuest’s Catch the Wind will be a large-scale, interactive campus of exhibits teaching visitors how plants and animals (including humans) make use of the wind. Exhibits will include a 30-foot Traveling Seed Tower, Wings of Flight ornithopter, Floating Rings air cannons, 100-foot Sailboat Pond, and Contemplative Bird Garden.
- BioQuest’s Explore the Wild will be a six-acre woodland habitat and wetland site. Traveling on a 900-foot boardwalk, visitors will stop at a series of investigative overlooks for sightings of black bears, red wolves, and lemurs from Duke University Primate Center. A special Wetland Overlook will feature a biology lab with samples of microscopic life.
- Completion of BioQuest’s Dinosaur Trail and Dig will signal the return of these late-Cretaceous creatures to Durham. This new and improved dinosaur site at MLS will feature life-sized models at six exhibit stations, a hands-on fossil dig site, and a dinosaur footprint plaster-casting station, plus other amenities.
Though full construction schedules have not been finalized, grading and infrastructure work are already underway. Grand openings for the three new exhibits are anticipated in late 2005 and early 2006.
Each year, more than 675,000 visitors attend Durham features—historic sites, museums, nature places, etc. Admission counts reveal that the Museum of Life and Science enjoys a following similar to that of the Durham Bulls.
Last year’s scientific survey of day-trippers in a 100-mile radius of Durham found that 66% had heard of the Museum of Life and Science and 41% had visited the museum in the past. This was the third-highest awareness level and second-highest visitation level among Durham features in the survey (behind RTP).
Research by the Travel Industry Association of America reveals that museums fall just behind historic sites on the things-to-see lists of cultural/historic travelers in the US. (Nearly 45% of these travelers visit historic sites, while 30% visit museums.)
In 2002, USA Today called the MLS butterfly house/insectarium one of “10 great places to get bug-eyed over insects.” In 2000 and 2001, FamilyFun magazine named MLS the #4 most family-friendly museum in the Southeast.
Last updated 5/04
