I've commented before that there is a tendency for many aquariums to closely resemble one another. There are reasons for this; there are only so many ways that you can respond to the challenges and limitations of keeping aquatic animals, and the list of which aquatic species are available for aquariums and do well under human care has its limitations. As a result, many aquariums tend to look alike, both in terms of their species list and their exhibits. Every once in a while, however, you come across a particularly unusual facility. One such aquarium is Johnny Morris Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium - we'll just call it Wonders of Wildlife for simplicity.
Located in Springfield, Missouri, this is one of the newest major aquariums in the United States; a smaller proto-aquarium opened up in 2001, before opening in its expanded, massive new form in 2017. The aquarium's namesake and founder is John Morris (also of Springfield), who founded the popular fishing supply store Bass Pro Shops; indeed, there is one megastore attached to the aquarium. Many Bass Pro stores also feature aquariums and other live animal displays (earlier that year, I'd visited the one in Memphis, Tennessee), but none to this scale.
As the full name of the facility would suggest, there is a strong focus not just on the aquatic animal aspect, but a museum as well, focusing on America's hunting tradition. For example, there is a special gallery of US Presidents and their fondness for fishing, with memorabilia from anglers-in-chief (both George W. Bush and Jimmy Garter attended the opening of the museum and have some of their personal effects on display here). There are displays on the history of hunting and its involvement in conservation in America (special focus on Teddy Roosevelt), but also on taxidermy, with very impressive displays of North American and African wildlife, as well as the mountain sheep and goats of the world. These dioramas surpass many of the natural history museums I've been to in their quality and realism. Some of the exhibits are a little... eccentric, such as a sculpture of a deer made out of antlers. Others are breathtaking, like wolves hunting muskox under the northern lights. Zoo history buffs will be delighted to see the Heads and Horns Museum, once a feature of the Bronx Zoo in its earliest days, now relocated here.
All of these exhibits, museum and aquarium, are included in admission. If you are only interested in live animal exhibits, be aware that one of the most popular animal habitats, a sub-Antarctic display of gentoo penguins, is located tucked amidst the taxidermy displays (what WoW calls the Wildlife Galleries) and could easily be missed if you weren't planning on following the galleries into that section of the building.
The aquarium itself follows a single path, typical of how many aquariums are designed these days, which is probably for the best in this case. The visitor experience maneuvers up and down between floors; at times you'll glance an exhibit from one level, be unsure as to how you're supposed to reach it, and follow the path along, only to eventually wind up there later. The entrance to the facility is certainly one of the more grandiose experiences - a large, dark blue hallway with boats (including one belonging to Ernest Hemingway, another notable angler - if Old Man and the Sea wasn't enough of a giveaway) and life-sized models of whales serving as decorations.
The aquarium exhibit opens up with a massive bait ball exhibit (a swarm of small schooling fish, used by many aquariums to open with a burst of action and motion) before coming to a tank styled around Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Visitors then walk alongside a large, ring-shaped tank that features smaller sharks, allowing guests to walk alongside the cartilaginous fish as the circle in constant motion. Next is a towering tank of groupers and other species in what is called the Shipwreck Reef, seen from a catwalk nearby, while at the base of the tank is a stingray touch pool (which you do not access from up here - I did see a lot of visitors trying to puzzle out how to get down there).
I'm increasingly finding it difficult to describe WoW in a straightforward manner of a narrative walk through, so when we resume tomorrow, it'll probably just end up being more of a conversation about the exhibits rather than a guided tour. Even with the map in front of me to help walk through the exhibits, I still feel like I'm getting lost.
Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium
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