Many are surprised to learn the Florida Museum of Natural History (formerly the Florida State Museum) began in the 1890s, long before the University of Florida or the Gators football team.
Visitors can enjoy live butterflies, witness a South Florida Calusa Indian welcoming ceremony, experience a life-size limestone cave and see a mammoth and mastodon from the last Ice Age. Permanent exhibits include Northwest Florida: Waterways & Wildlife, South Florida People & Environments, Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land, and the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, which features the screened, outdoor Butterfly Rainforest exhibit.
This video was featured on the Gainesville Television Network's My Florida Showcase during the summer and fall of 2010.
The Florida Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday year round. It is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Less