The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is located in the Cultural Corridor of Downtown Las Vegas, an area that extends down Las Vegas Boulevard along US 95 to Washington Avenue. The museum offers both visitors and residents of Las Vegas the opportunity for some alternative Las Vegas fun. Whether you’re interested in escaping to ancient Egypt, roaming with dinosaurs, or interacting with marine or desert life, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Money Saving Tip! Las Vegas Natural History Museum is included on the Go Las Vegas Pass and Las Vegas Explorer Pass. If you are sightseeing in Las Vegas, then you can save a lot of money with a pass.
About the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
Situated one mile north of Las Vegas’ Fremont Street experience, guests will find the ever-popular Las Vegas Natural History Museum.
What was once only a small and private non-profit museum when it opened in 1991, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum is now a well recognized Smithsonian Affiliate. The museum also has accreditation with the American Alliance Museums while also being a state and federal repository for fossils and artifacts. The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is actually Nevada’s only working paleontology lab. The museum isn’t simply a visual experience, but also an interactive one as guests are invited to use their senses to explore and enjoy all parts of the museum.
Las Vegas Natural History Museum: The Main Attraction
Perhaps small in comparison to other natural history museums, guests of the museum can still enjoy a wide variety of educational and entertaining permanent and visiting exhibits. Guests should plan to spend around two hours walking through the museum although you might enjoy it so much that you lose track of time and linger longer.
Exhibits at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum:
● Treasures of Egypt
● Engelstad Family Prehistoric Life Gallery
● Marine Life Gallery
● Gary & Matthew Primm African Savanna Gallery
● Dinosaur Mummy CSI: Cretaceous Science Investigation
● International Wildlife Gallery
● E. L. Wiegand Foundation Wild Nevada Gallery
● Prehistoric Mammals Gallery
● Geology Gallery
● Cox Charities Young Scientist Center
In 2010 the Treasures of Egypt exhibit was gifted to the museum after being on display at the Luxor Hotel and Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas. Visitors to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum can view replicas authorized by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities from King Tutankhamun’s tomb as well as artifacts re-created from inside his burial chamber. As you walk through the 4000-square-foot main floor exhibit, expect to be amazed by the recreations of the actual tomb, the golden shrine and throne, chariots, and more.
Children of all ages will enjoy the Prehistoric Life Gallery with among other things, a massive 35-foot long roaring Tyrannosaurus Rex and a 23-foot long dinosaur named Leonardo. Who exactly is Leonardo? Considered the world’s best-preserved mummified dinosaur, researchers were not only able to reveal and discover the texture of his skin as well as his internal organs, but also what was his last meal. Now that is how you make science fun! Other dinosaurs in this exhibit include triceratops as well as the lesser-known but interesting deinonychus and ankylosaur dinosaurs.
For those looking for sea creatures like sharks and stingrays, visit the Marine Life Gallery with its large 3,000-gallon tank. The other aquatic tanks that occupy this exhibit display a large variety of other sea life creatures. Don’t forget to look up or you might miss the replicas hanging from the ceiling that include whales, sharks, and a wide assortment of large marine life. Any future marine biologist is going to love this exhibit.
Check out the wildlife in the museum’s interactive wildlife exhibits like those that roamed the Mojave Desert in the Wild Nevada Gallery. For a special treat, guides on the weekends provide a more interactive, closely monitored, and up close and personal view of real snakes and spiders. Don’t panic as the scorpions, tarantulas, and lizards don’t come out to play and stay behind the museum’s glass in their own habitats.
Guests can also view more than 90 species of birds, reptiles, and mammals in the African Savanna exhibit. We’re talking lions, leopards, rhinoceros, crocodiles, and much more. Walk around and take in the African savanna landscape while safely observing the stuffed big cats as they stalk their prey.
Want to encourage your budding scientist to get in there and get dirty? Stop by the Cox Charities Young Scientist Center where kids can act the part of a paleontologist or marine biologist. Not visiting with children? No one says adults can’t enjoy all the activities offered at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.
Why the Las Vegas Natural History Museum is a Must-See
For anyone visiting Las Vegas, a trip to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum is a must-visit destination as everyone in your group will not only be entertained, but will enjoy it. Watch the sharks and stingrays get fed in their 3,000-gallon tank on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday afternoons. Hear the 35-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex replica roar at the push of a button. Or spend an afternoon feeling like you’re in ancient Egypt as you immerse yourself in the Treasures of Egypt. In fact, you might discover something new each time you go back to visit.
No other part of the city of Las Vegas offers more museums than what you’ll find in the Cultural Corridor. Since the Las Vegas Natural History Museum is conveniently nestled between the Neon Museum and Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and is situated directly across from the Las Vegas Library in the Cultural Corridor, if you’re looking to take a day to do something different in Las Vegas, you’ve definitely picked the best location in Las Vegas to explore.
