Before spring break I visited the Florida Museum of Natural History with a fellow classmate. I was able to experience the Butterfly Rainforest and the limited time Frogs! A Chorus of Colors exhibit.

When I went to the Museum of Natural History they was a special limited time exhibition called Frogs! A Chorus of Colors. With entry to museum came a stamp that granted entry to the frog exhibit. I thought it was really cool and interesting. They had brought frogs from all over the world and of different sizes and colors. There would be a habitat for the frog and next to it was information about the frog: where it came from, it's behavior, and other things of the sort. Frogs had been a fascination of mine as a child and this exhibit brought a bit of that childhood wonder back to the forefront of my mind. I felt childish as I went around looking into the different habitats and reading about different frogs. I learned a lot though. For the longest time, I had thought that the Dart Poison Frog was a Poison Dart Frog and that it poisonous but not super poisonous. i'm not sure if the correct positioning of the words was really a huge revelation, but I did learn that the frog could kill a man with just a touch. The poison is that potent. There were also some interactive parts of the exhibit that showed you characteristics of certain frogs or what certain frogs eat. Watching the short clips that talked about the frogs was fun and immersive. What I enjoyed about this exhibit and the museum in general was that it brought childhood curiosity into my life. There were many interactive exhibits and points of wonderment that made me feel like a four year old staring wide eyed at something new and mysterious.

Throughout the museum there were several different exhibits that were recreations of natural habitats in nature. There was a grassy plain, a dark cave, and a beach that held sea turtle eggs. Each of these exhibits was interactive, providing ambient sounds that replicated the noises you would hear if you were actually at once of these places and examples of the wildlife you would find. I loved being able to see these different habitats because I haven't had too much opportunity to go anywhere outside of Florida which is just beaches and swamps. I enjoyed how things were interactive meant to get you immersed in the exhibits of the museum. The butterfly exhibit fully immersed you into the habitat of the butterflies and you got to see all of the butterflies zipping around. It's something I'd never seen before. All the exhibits got me interested in seeing the beauty of nature to a fuller extent. This also reminded me of the need to protect these sanctuaries for life and beauty. Recently I've been following a online news source that provides me with daily animal content. Many of the articles are about cute animals or animals being rescued, but every once and while there will be one about how people are destroying habitats or driving animals to extinction. A couple big examples of animals being driven towards extinction are Elephants, most Rhino species. and the Pangolin. There are people out there who are trying to "conquer" nature instead of following the words of Leopold to "love, respect, and admire." There are little things everyone can do to love, respect, and admire nature. The museum reminded me of nature's beauty and necessity to protect it.

For most people going to a museum or going out into nature is not commonplace. Being able to take time out of my day to experience something that I don't normally experience was a breath of fresh air. Learning about nature and experiencing nature allows us to feel how big the world really is. Instead of limiting ourselves to our dorms or the classroom we can take time in our busy lives to stop, take a breather, and just immerse ourselves in nature. Being religious, I like to think that experiencing nature allows me to be a part of something big and beautiful. There were mammoth bones, a megalodon jaw, and many exhibits replicating nature. Nature keeps on going throughout generations and lifetimes. Flowers wither, species die, and people pass away, but nature continues on. It's realizing that there's something bigger going on around us that we are able to fully appreciate nature and its beauty. I personally really enjoyed being able to go and see these museums. The world is big and it's out there for people to enjoy and marvel at. Sharing a love of beauty is essential to living good life. It keeps us grounded in things that are beauty and worth protecting.