Academy of Natural Sciences
Last week I visited the Academy of Natural Sciences. It’s the best place to see dinosaur bones here in Philadelphia. The Dinosaur Hall has a tyrannosaurus rex, a triceratops, and a hadrosaurus skeletons, along with several others. As long as you have a few kids in tow, or do not mind being out numbered by those who do, it’s a pretty good day trip. The ultrasaurus leg bones are just amazing. There is also an opportunity to get a quick pic inside of a cast of a T rex skull, if you are small enough to fit inside.
The major negative of this museum are the taxidermy dioramas. Not surprisingly the museum does not make much mention of these on their web site but they take up a considerable portion of their floor space. Almost a full floor of real stuffed animals, for example the family of three pandas, mom, dad, and cub all skinned and preserved for a dusty eternity behind glass. If you have little ones be prepared to address the endless questions about why people shot all these beautiful creatures.
Despite the tragic history this is great place to start the discussion of the Law of Evolution (yes I have upgraded it!) with kids. Actually the bad history is just as important for kids because we as a civilization will not learn from our mistakes if we hide them from future generations. Truffala trees don’t save themselves after all.
photo credits Colin Purrington