USA TODAY International Edition
The world’s habitats in one place: Missouri
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The African savanna smells like no other place on the planet: earthy, rich, musky, dry, damp, loamy, ancient, fresh and vibrant. It’s the penetrating scent of a wild place.
It’s also one of the first things you notice upon entering the Great African Hall. That and the bump in humidity. It’s warm on the African plain.
The Great African Hall is only one of the stunningly detailed dioramas that visitors will find inside Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium, a 350,000-square-foot nature, wildlife and conservation-themed wonderland that includes hundreds of exhibits, thousands of impressive works of taxidermy, and more than 35,000 live animals from penguins, stingrays and seahorses, to crocodiles, anacondas and black bears. There also is a 1.5-million-gallon aquarium, two fishing halls of fame, a plethora of historical artifacts, from collections of Native American arrowheads, to Zane Grey’s fishing boat Avalon, to a copy of President Theodore Roosevelt’s March 14, 1903, telegram that set aside Pelican Island on Florida’s Indian River as the nation’s first national wildlife refuge.
The “trail” guiding visitors through these wonders is about 1.5 miles long. Along the way you’ll be exposed to a sliver of nearly every ecosystem on the planet and many of the critters that inhabit them; some mounted, some live. The aquarium is home to a 400-pound giant grouper and palm-size seahorses.
One exhibit celebrates Native Americans, the original conservationists. Another spotlights Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery, the first Americans to document the natural wonders and the peoples of the Missouri and Columbia River valleys.
“The Wonders of Wildlife is different from any other museum or aquarium in the country in the fact that it is truly an immersive experience,” said museum spokesperson Shelby L. Stephenson.
The history of conservation
The primary message is conservation. Stephenson noted that more than 40 conservation groups, including the National Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited, and National Geographic, partnered with the Wonders of Wildlife project, which was nearly a decade in development and construction.
Wonders of Wildlife also spotlights the role of sportsmen in conservation.
One room reflects a hunting camp, as does the Africa at night exhibit. A wall is dedicated to U. S. presidents who fish, a display that includes First Anglers Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.
Wonders of Wildlife also takes part in programs with the message that education and conservation are inseparable.
“We want people to come here and when they leave understand the purpose and the history behind the conservation movement in this country,” Stephenson noted.
Fishing halls of fame
The Great Oceans Hall is bathed in bluish floor lighting and signals that visitors are entering into the zone of all things aquatic. A couple of fishing boats spotlight the literary and angling links forged by Ernest Hemingway and Grey.
Past the towering bait ball display, visitors enter the place of dreams for anglers of all stripes: The International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame and the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
The Bass Fishing Hall of Fame includes photos and plaques celebrating inductees and displays highlighting the evolution of gear and tackle. Visitors gravitate to a tank scattered with the type of woody structure preferred by largemouth bass.
“We have seven bass over 10 pounds,” said Stephenson. “Our biggest is 16 pounds.”
Why Springfield?
The Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium is a sophisticated and extraordinary facility that could have been located anywhere. So why Springfield, Mo.?
There are several reasons: The museum’s founder, Johnny Morris, is the founder of Bass Pro Shops, whose flagship store adjoins the facilities.
And “it was really important to (Johnny Morris) that a facility of this caliber be located here in Springfield,” Stephenseon says. “Not only because it’s his hometown . ... But also, so it is accessible to families who may never have an opportunity to travel to D.C. or New York.”