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Spotter's Adventure Trail and The Den at the LeFleur's Bluff Complex are Open!
Meet Spotter the Otter and friends on Spotter’s Adventure Trail! The 8-foot-wide trail is located east of the LeFleur's Bluff Playground and leads the way to conveniently visit MDWFP's Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the Mississippi Children's Museum, and the LeFleur's Bluff Playground.
Get your snacks and Spotter gear (hats and t-shirts) at Spotter's Snack Shack!
The Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation funded the LeFleur’s Bluff Playground, Outdoor Pavilion, and Museum Trail. The Foundation’s generous $3.86 million made this innovative project possible, and the Foundation’s leadership team played a visionary role in developing the state-of-the-art playground and complex.
Click here for details about the LeFleur's Bluff Complex.
DINOSAUR TRAIL
Nestled along one of the museum’s nature trails, you can see six large-scale, 3-D dinosaur models, including a Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Chasmosaurus, Nodosaurus, Appalachiosaurus, and an Eotrachodon with nest and newly hatched babies.
Along the way, learn a fascinating fact about each dinosaur as well as its height, length, weight, diet, and time period.
The new trail officially opened on July 1, 2022, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony honoring the memory of the project’s benefactor, Gerard “Jerry” Case, a long-time friend of the museum (see below). The museum and the Foundation are grateful for this gift and proud to recognize Mr. Case’s achievements in the field of paleontology with this new Dinosaur Trail that will delight generations of museum visitors!
LEFLEUR'S BLUFF EDUCATION & TOURISM COMPLEX PLAYGROUND
Click here for details about this fun playground!
Hours: M-F: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sun: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. The playground will be closed on New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
BIRD FLIGHT EXHIBIT
MDWFP’s Mississippi Museum of Natural Science recently unveiled “Bird Flight”, a stunning, permanent exhibit created in memory of B.E. Gandy, Museum Director/Curator from 1958–1987. Learn how birds fly, measure your wingspan, and see a murmuration, in this fascinating exhibit.
Flying enables birds to escape predators, look for food, and migrate. As an avid birder, Mr. Gandy was fascinated by bird flight, especially the phenomenon of bird murmurations. A murmuration is a flock of hundreds or thousands of birds flying in a whirling, twisting, morphing pattern.
Within a murmuration, flight information is somehow instantly communicated, allowing the flock to respond as one. Murmurations confuse predators and also attract other birds to roost together at night for added safety.
