For many, the words 'museum' and 'Las Vegas' might not seem to really go together. But, in fact, this is a town with more than 2 million inhabitants, so it has all the normal civic institutions of any other large American city, including buildings featuring scientifically organized displays of artifacts. Such would be the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, a lesser-known cultural gem.
It’s a smaller museum, and does not have a large budget or Hollywood-quality dioramas, but its compact exhibition halls do a lot with the limited resources at hand. The Prehistoric Life hall has a 35ft-long Tyrannosaurus rex model that lowers its head and roars when you push a button. The African Savannah gallery is filled with stuffed big cats and their prey. The Nevada Gallery features wildlife of the Mojave Desert, from bighorn sheep to cougars. And, in the Super Vegas category, the museum is the proud caretaker of the original King Tut exhibit that once made its home in the Luxor Hotel on the Strip. There are numerous other galleries, as well as visiting exhibits.