North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences News

Smaggledagle

Smaggledagle

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5+ year member
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is a 300,000-square-foot facility located in Raleigh, North Carolina (as well as operating several other facilities in several cities in North Carolina). Animals at the facility include Linne's two-toed sloth, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, plain-bellied water snake, Amazon Basin emerald tree boa, stripe-necked musk turtle, Amazonian mata-mata, eastern glass lizard, seal salamander, pine woods tree frog, bowfin, and acacia ant, among other species.

On February 23rd, it was reported that the museum acquired (0.0.3) Kemp's ridley sea turtles for rehabilitation, of which one was later released back into the wild.

Rehabbed sea turtle at NC Museum of Natural Science released back to the ocean
3 endangered sea turtles now in the care of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences

On January 30th, 2024, the museum announced they reopened the Changing Oceans tank in the Nature Research Center to the public after renovations took place. The species in the 10,000-gallon tank include banded butterflyfish, blue tang, doctorfish tang, grey angelfish, long-spined porcupinefish, and porkfish, alongside unspecified species of grunt, lobster, and surgeonfish.

Our Changing Oceans, featuring a 10,000-gallon aquarium, is now open in the Nature Research Center. The marine life you can see in this habitat includes... | By North Carolina Museum of Natural SciencesFacebook

On February 19th, it was announced that the museum transferred a (1.0) pygmy rattlesnake to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island in North Carolina.

NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island
 
I visit this facility semi-regularly and have actually just visited back on 03/09 when they conducted their annual Reptile and Amphibian Day event. The event involves various museum and non-profits setting up booths at the museum with both live animals and interactive activities involving the namesake animals. This year's theme was Crocodilians. I also visited this past December.

Here are some updates and other things I noted from my last 2 visits.
  • The museum's newest exhibit, Dueling Dinosaurs, is scheduled to open on April 27, 2024, after more than 4 years of planning and construction (including some pandemic-induced delays). The exhibit will be in the adjacent Natural Research Center on the first floor.
  • The museum has announced their next special exhibit "Amazing Pollinators" to debut this June. This will be in the Special Exhibit gallery on the 2nd floor. No details have been provided.
  • The Diamondback Terrapin/Saltwater Fish aquarium in the "Coastal North Carolina" gallery on the first floor was completely drained and undergoing maintenance.
  • Most of the snakes on the 3rd floor exhibit "Snakes of North Carolina" were off-exhibit and most of the exhibits were covered up.
  • The Poison Dart Frog exhibit in the "Tropical Connections" gallery on the third floor remains covered up and unused. Nothing has changed since I made my species list for this facility last year.
  • The Living Conservatory exhibit now only opens on a seasonal basis (the museum does not provide any specific date ranges beyond "see you in the summer"). They do open the exhibit during events, but otherwise, it no longer operates year-round like it used to prior to the pandemic.
Smaggledagle said:
On January 30th, 2024, the museum announced they reopened the Changing Oceans tank in the Nature Research Center to the public after renovations took place. The species in the 10,000-gallon tank include banded butterflyfish, blue tang, doctorfish tang, grey angelfish, long-spined porcupinefish, and porkfish, alongside unspecified species of grunt, lobster, and surgeonfish.
Click to expand...

The exhibit has been open since at least December; weird that they only announced it in January.

  • Atlantic Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)
  • Bluestriped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus)
  • Caribbean Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus tractus)
  • Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus)
  • Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus)
  • French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru)
  • French Grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)
  • Grey Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus)
  • Longspined Porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus)
  • Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)
  • Smallmouth Grunt (Brachygenys chrysargyrea)
They used to have Bonnethead sharks back in the pre-pandemic days, but sadly, that is no longer the case.
 
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