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Houston museum of natural science

My dad and I went to the museum today to see the famed Lucy. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pics in the entire exhibit, which was just a bunch of Ethiopian stuff, and her bones. It was good to see the bones and the full scale model recreation. Apparently...she just looked like an upright mini gorilla with a less conical head. While it was interesting, I wouldn't go back to the same exhibit. We didn't go through the whole museum (not enough time), but did hit up the entomology hall and butterfly exhibit, which have always been my favs.
Also, I don't think they've changed the "normal" part of the museum since I was about 5


Some dinosaur pics that didn't come out bright enough
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Malacology exhibit
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36" conch shell
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Scallops
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Cave cockroaches
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Assassin bug
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Katydid
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Australian walking stick. They also had an orchid mantis but it was tiny and in a weird spot, so I couldn't get it
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Hissing cockroach
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Beetle time
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African giant milipede
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Mexican red-kneed tarantula
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Entrance to Cockrell Butterfly Center. The whole thing is kept at 80° and 80% humidity. Paradise!
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Butterfly action shots
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Some sort of orchid
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Starfruit
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beautiful.
 
the thing you labled mantis
is an australian walking stick.
 
Yeah stupid me not looking at the front legs. FWIW, it was in a mantis cage ;)
 
OMG those beetles are horrific looking. Beetles are my arch-nemesis :).

Nice pics though =). I haven't been to a museum in ages. Thanks for sharing the pics :).
 
Beetles account for 25% of the known life forms on the planet.
I think 1 out of every 3 living things is a beetle.
 
I needa squish them more often then!
 
  • #10
I wonder how long huge beetles like that live. I know I could look on Wiki, but I feel lazy.
 
  • #11
I love natural history museums. Thanks for sharing those pictures. Is Lucy a traveling exhibit? I think it was Lucy that I saw up here in Kansas: either in Wichita or Kansas City. I especially like the assassin bugs.

xvart.
 
  • #12
Those huge beetles freak me out. If I ever saw a live one I would shriek like a 12 year old girl and run like all hell was chasing me. I can handle spiders, and even pick up the non/lesser poisonous ones, but for some reason non-harmful beetles freak me out. ooh and cockroaches... :eek:
 
  • #13
Lucy is on loan from the national museum of Ethiopia. She's supposed to be here until April I think, then go on to somewhere else that may or may not have already been negotiated.

Some beetles can live for about a decadeish. The ones that have wood or soil eating larvae at least. What they eat is so nutrient poor, it can take them upwards of 7 years of eating their almost nutrientless food source to be able to get anough energy to pupate into an adult. They don't stay in adult form for that long though.

The goliath beetle can weigh up to 1/4th lb :D
 
  • #14
are those cave cockroaches eating cereal?
 
  • #16
SqUiSh TeH bEeTlE
or just feed em to your neps :3
 
  • #17
Very nice. I love Dinosaurs!

I know a member from a different forum that donated the orchid mantis for that museum. He actually visited not too long ago and posted pictures from the entomology hall that are similar to yours.

Oh yeah, I remember that a cave roach made an appearance at the very end of one episode of the X-Files. :)
 
  • #18
Wow...beautiful place and photos. I love traveling vicariously. :)
 
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