Earth Day celebration planned for museum

The Las Vegas Natural History Museum has scheduled its annual "Earth Day Nevada" program for Saturday, at the museum at 900 N. Las Vegas Blvd.

Starting at 9 a.m., the celebration will feature representatives from Lake Mead Recreation Area, the Wild Horse Commission and Red Rock National Conservation Area.

Visitors to the Earth Day event will have the opportunity to see or touch several native species or those adapted to life in the Mojave Desert, including rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, and Nevada's state lizard, the Chuckwalla. Western Exterminators will also display several species of mounted spiders and insects including a bark scorpion and the infamous black widow spider. Visitors will also have the opportunity to touch a live tarantula.

"The public has several misconceptions about desert animals," said Paul Frederick, the museum's education director. "What makes them scary, also makes them good survivors."

Not all the animals on Earth Day will be scary or poisonous. Scientists from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Barrick Museum of Natural History will bring at least one desert tortoise, in addition to various lizards, and The Nevada Wild Horse Preservation Commission will bring several young mustangs to the celebration.

Earth Day at the museum will also feature three "Make & Take" activities. Children will be able to make a planter of plants that animals in the desert use for food; create a wildlife map showing where certain animals live in the desert; and do a paper recycling exercise.

"As Americans, we are more and more out of touch with nature," said the museum's executive director Marilyn Gillespie. "Earth Day helps us remember how important nature is to our well-being."

Admission is $5.50 for adults, $4.50 for students, seniors and military and $3 for children aged 4-12. For more information, call 384-6499.