The collection
Every specimen has a story.
Fossils, tracks, tusks and life-sized wildlife — collected over a lifetime, shown up close.
When land and sea traded placesWhen land and sea traded places
The land was once sea.
The ground we stand on today was once the bottom of the sea. And the sea bed off our coast was once dry land, roamed by woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers. Both worlds are in this room: a genuine mosasaur — skull, vertebrae and teeth — from the age when giant marine reptiles ruled the water over what is now the Deep South, and around it dinosaur tracks, massive ammonites, petrified wood, and shelves of skulls that reward slow lookers.
A Walk in the Southern Woods
Mississippi's own wild, at arm's length.
An immersive walk-through of the woods right outside town — cougar in the branches, wild boar on the trail, deer, raccoon and more, with the sounds and settings of a Southern forest.
Ice & Tundra
A winter hunt, frozen mid-moment.
Wolves circle a bull moose in the snow while an elk bugles overhead — the museum's most dramatic scene, and the one visitors photograph most.
Global Wildlife
The savannah, one street off Main.
Leopard in the acacia, gazelle mid-leap, ostrich standing guard — wildlife from Africa and beyond, plus the famous life-sized Monster Bear and authentic elephant tusks.
A walk in the woods
Step into the swamp without getting your boots wet.
The Southern Woods walk-through puts you eye-level with the wildlife that actually lives out your back door — an alligator mid-bellow in the cypress water, a bass breaking the surface, herons, a bobcat, a black bear in the pines.
Walk in the Southern Woods
The swamp, one step off the sidewalk.
A slow pass through the cypress water — gator, gar, herons and the pine woods beyond.
Global Wildlife
Meet the lion. He does not blink first.
Africa's savanna, an arm's length from Second Street — lion, cheetah, rhino, ostrich, kudu and warthog.
A glimpse inside
See it in person
Photos don't do the Monster Bear justice.
Open by appointment. Call (601) 736-4910 and we will set a time.