From Saturdays Paper

Museum announces 'poisonous' exhibit

'Venom' will feature everything from jelly fish to scorpions

By TH staff

Photo: Kori Newby
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium employee Abby Urban drops crushed coral into a tank that will house anemones for a new exibit on venomous creatures coming to the museum in May.

With all apologies to comedian and musician Jim Stafford, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium really likes spiders and snakes -- especially the biting kind.

On Friday, the museum announced plans for its latest feature exhibit, replacing the popular Catfish Planet.

"Venom," as it is billed, is slated to open May 10 and is expected to feature plenty of "Spiders and Snakes," the critters the love interest in Stafford's 1970s hit song despises. The exhibit will display all sorts of other intriguing and venomous creatures, too, from poison dart frogs and jelly fish to insects and scorpions.

But the exhibit appears to be much more ambitious. "Venom" will explain the difference between poison and venom, educate visitors on the poisons in their home and give a brief history of poison and uses of poison in the world.

Highlights include the use of manipulative cameras that allow visitors to zoom in on the exhibit's animals, and a crawl-through rattlesnake exhibit allowing a "prey's-eye view" of the reptile. A mock kitchen cabinet, garage shelf and

medicine cabinet will display some of the harmful and sometimes deadly poisons in the home.

Also, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Amphibian Ark have designated 2008 as the Year of the Frog. The main goal of the campaign, organizers say, is to generate public awareness of the amphibian extinction crisis, which represents the greatest species conservation challenge in the history of humanity.

To help raise awareness, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium has added five new amphibian exhibits. The enclosures will exhibit some of the frogs displayed in the 2005 Toadally Frogs exhibit.

The Year of the Frog exhibit is now on display.