Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful comments and stars on yesterday's blip.  I was stunned and humbled to find this morning that it had made it to the spotlight.

We got a very early start to the day and spent a couple of hours roaming the exhibits here. My brother, Frank and niece, Catie are overlooking one of the spectacular views here at the Desert Museum.  We barely touched what was available  there for us to experience.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is ranked on as one of the Top 10 Museums in the country. Unlike most museums, about 85% of the experience is outdoors. The 98 acre Desert Museum is a fusion experience: zoo, botanical garden, art gallery, natural history museum, and aquarium. It includes:

   *21 interpreted acres with two miles of walking paths through various desert habitats

   *230 animal species
-106 mammals of 31 taxa
   -241 birds of 72 taxa
   -361 reptiles of 86 taxa
   -122 amphibians of 23 taxa
   -10,700 fish of 9 taxa
   -840 arthropods of 78 taxa

   *1,200 types of plants — 56,000 individual specimens
   
*One of the world's most comprehensive regional mineral collections

*The Museum includes an Earth Sciences Center which recreates an underground cave, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, houses one of the world's most comprehensive regional mineral collections, and even includes a moon rock on loan from NASA.

*and far too much else to list...

I'm going to go back by myself sometime to try to catch the Free Flight Raptor show.