BEYOND THE exhibits featuring dinosaur bones and dioramas at the Academy of Natural Sciences lie real live animals.
The Florence R. Foerderer Live Animal Center is home to 100 animals representing 70 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians whose origins can be traced back to five continents (sorry, Antarctica fans). So academy patrons can see a Kenyan sand boa and a Moluccan cockatoo up close and personal.
Despite being known for its inanimate exhibits, the Live Animal Center has been at the museum since 1936, when the center was used as part of an education program for Boy Scouts. The animals are used for similar purposes today, including in-house lessons for school classes, for museum-outreach programs and for naturalist presentations that take place at least once a day at the academy. Many animals are also on display at Outside In, the children's museum-within-the-museum.