Reptile exhibit at Science Museum provides winter thrills

Date: 1/18/2011

Jan. 19, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD — For many people, they are the stuff of nightmare: cobras, rattlesnakes, pythons and vipers.

But perhaps behind the safety of glass cases, people can see their beauty as well.

The Springfield Science Museum will feature the traveling exhibit, "Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly," now through May 22.

The exhibit includes 19 living reptiles in naturalistic dioramas, 15 interactive components, and 35 colorful, backlit informational panels.

Visitors will be able to see an albino Asian cobra; a gila monster — the only venomous American lizard; a seven-foot-long monitor lizard; an American alligator; a saltwater crocodile, a western diamond back rattlesnake; a Gaboon viper — the snake with the longest fangs; and a Burmese python, among others.

Sara Orr, the Springfield Museums' director of public relations and marketing, told Reminder Publications "live action exhibits are very popular."

"We like to have a big draw for school vacations," she added.

Live animals have been part of the Science Museum's regular exhibits for many years, Orr pointed out. The Science Museum once featured an aquarium on the top floor, which was replaced by the new habitats for fish, reptiles and amphibians in the basement of the building.

Walking through the exhibit, the informative lit signs above every enclosure offer plenty of information about the reptiles. They are supplemented by other aspects of the exhibit including zoetropes showing how reptiles move and an over-sized model of a viper skull to illustrate how the fangs move into position.

Peeling Productions at Clyde Peeling's Reptiland in Allenwood, Penn., created the exhibit and United Bank sponsors the Springfield showing of it.

The Springfield Museums are located on the Quadrangle at 21 Edwards St. Free onsite parking is available in the Edwards Street parking lots. The Science Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12.50 for adults, $9 for seniors and college students, $6.50 for children 3-17, and free for children under 3 and museum members. Springfield residents receive free general admission with proof of address. The fee provides admission to all Springfield Museums. There is a special exhibition fee of $5 for all visitors age 3 and up to visit the "Reptiles" exhibit.

For information, call 263-6800 or visit www.springfieldmuseums.org.