Start your own collection of flowers, grasses, and leaves! Check out today’s episode of Curious By Nature to learn how to press and mount plants from our senior director of collections, Dawn. You can also download and print out her handy guides to pressing and mounting plants.


How do we create our exhibits? How do we come up with our ideas? Find out for yourself as you make your own exhibit in a shoebox! Click here to download part one of our guide and then stay tuned for part two in Thursday’s email!

What is a mollusk? A mollusk is an invertebrate – meaning these animals do not have a skeleton. They are grouped in a large scientific phylum called Mollusca and include animals that live on land (terrestrial) and in freshwater and marine environments. In Illinois, we can find all kinds of mollusks! There are tree snails, slugs, and freshwater bivalves, just to name a few! Many species in our area are super tiny, so you have to really explore to find them. Download the identification guides for land snails and slugs and freshwater snails, clams, and mussels and see if you can find any in your neighborhood or favorite nature areas!
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