The Museum at the Missouri Institutute of Natural Sciences has a growing collection of exhibits that touch upon the natural history of Missouri and from many places around the world.

Fossils: Evolution of Vertebrates and Invertebrates on Earth

The Museum’s collection of fossils is wide-ranging, from invertebrate Trilobites from the Ordovician period (450 mya)  to Triceratop vertebrae from the Cretaceous period (150 mya) to Mammoth bones from the ‘recent’ past, the Middle Pleistocene (735,000 years ago) or the Ice Age.  Riverbluff Cave, under property acquired by the Missouri Institute of Natural Science is a rich source of fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch and you can see many fossils from this Cave in our exhibits.

Minerals, Rocks and Crystals

Magma from deep inside the Earth’s molten core bubbled to the surface over millions of years, creating Igneous rock.  Weathering, transport and deposition of Igneous rock led to the formation of Sedimentary rock, which, when subjected to tremendous heat and pressure, created Metamorphic rock.  Visit the Museum to see Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic rock samples and a wide array of minerals and crystals from graphites and calcites to silicates and quartz.

Petrified Wood from Ancient Forests

Petrified wood is literally wood that has ‘been turned into stone.’  It is a kind of ‘young’ fossil where the wood, over less than a hundred years has been replaced by a variety of minerals.  The petrified wood maintains the structure of the actual wood, right down to the microscopic cellular level.  See specimens of petrified wood at the Museum, dating from the Pliocene, Cretaceous and Jurassic periods.

Shells: The Beautiful World of Mollusks

The Museum has a colorful collection of shells from around the world.  From the frilly ‘fingers’ of the Hexaplex and slender spines of the Venus Comb to the vivid orange hues of the Regal Thorny Oyster, our collection of shells is sure to catch your eye!

Coral: The Largest Living Structures on Earth

Corals are the largest living structures on our planet, made up of thousands of tiny animals called polyps.  Its these colonies of coral polyp that make up the large coral ‘heads’ that we are so familiar with in marine aquaria.  Each polyp is only a few millimeters in diameter and all the polyps on the coral head are genetically identical. Come see our recent coral specimens as well as corals from the Ordovician to the Permian period (488 to 251 mya).