Go Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Natural History

N.S. MUSEUM--Go Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Natural History

Bats, rats and mummified cats! The Museum of Natural History invites you to come Behind the Scenes on Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26. It's been nine years since visitors have been able to tour backstage at the museum and staff are looking forward to the event.

"We truly enjoy opening our back doors and cabinets for our visitors," said Alex Wilson, collection's manager. "We've made some important changes to the labs and have lots of interesting stories to share."

Museum visitors are familiar with the galleries, but other parts of the museum are seldom seen by the public.

"My girls often ask, 'Can we see what's upstairs?,'" said Barb Furlong, a museum visitor from Halifax. "Well, this weekend we will."

The natural history labs on the third floor are home to more than 500,000 items from nature. The labs are divided into zoology (animals), botany (plants) and geology (rocks, minerals and fossils). Curators and research associates will be showing off some of the most unique, special, rare or just odd things from the collections. There's a killer porcupine, monster-sized moths, lots of pickled critters, the double coconut, whale spinal discs the size of a frisbee, special fossils, and Nova Scotia deepsea corals. Staff will also be working on special projects, like Autumn Leaf Watch, Thousand Eyes, and Web sites about the coast and mushrooms.

Along with visiting the laboratories, visitors will also see where exhibits are designed and can talk to staff about the specialized equipment for building exhibits and other museum activities like school classes, programs and school loan kits.

Behind the Scenes takes place on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum of Natural History is located at 1747 Summer St., Halifax.

Regular admission will be charged. For information, call 902-424- 3563.