Midwest Museum of Natural History

In the rural town of Sycamore, Illinois, The Midwest Museum of Natural History sits and is known as a primary source of natural history. In 1875 the structure was built as the home of the Universalist Church in Sycamore. Later the town of Sycamore bought it and renamed it the Sycamore Convention Center in 1927. It housed a swimming pool in its basement. In February 2004, this 128-year-old building was overhauled once again with a top to bottom 1.2 million dollar renovation. This included the creation of the main exhibit hall, a meeting/activity room, the Discovery Den, classrooms, offices, collection storage, and a new roof and climate controls, to help preserve the museum specimens.

Midwest Museum of Natural History
Museum
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	DeKalb
Coordinates	41°59′21″N 88°41′22″W / 41.98917°N 88.68944°W / 41.98917; -88.68944
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code	60178
Area code	815
Wikimedia Commons: Sycamore, Illinois
Website: http://www.mmnh.org/

Exhibits

Natural biomes of North America, from the Arctic tundra, to the desert are always on display and recreate an environment of previous North America. This facility has (fake) animals in their habitats. Over fifty North American animals, mammals, reptiles and birds are on display for educational exploration. These include Alaskan Brown Bear, Arctic Fox, Badger, Barbary Sheep, Beaver, Black Bear, Blue Sheep, Bobca, Caribou, Corsican Sheep, Cross Fox, Coyote, Elk,European Red Deer, Gray Fox, Javelina, Lynx, Moose, Mule, Deer, Otter, Pine Martin, Polar Bear, Porcupine, Pronghorn, Puma, Ringtail Cat, Rocky Mountain Goat, Siberian Ibex, Silver Fox, Skunk, Stone Sheep, Turkey, Whitetail Deer, Wolf, and the Wolverine. Also, live insects are on display, including the Rose Trantula.

Activities

The Museum has an upstairs, where the majority of the exhibits are, and a basement, which house's a convention room, a play house for children, a fish pond, and a rather large Tortoise. Normally, the convention center hold activities such as birds of prey and snake traveling exhibits.