There’s an area where kids and adults can touch things like snake skin, bear or wolf fur. Items can be examined under microscopes and the life cycle of a frog can be observed in a series of small aquariums.
Paved trails and wooden walkways lead visitors by habitats where they can see animals native to the Southern Appalachian region. Coyotes, red and gray wolves, black bears and otters are just some of the animals visitors can observe. I was impressed by the habitats and particularly liked the boardwalk that takes visitors over the black bear and white tailed deer habitats. The otters were a lot of fun to watch.
We arrived at the contact yard ten minutes after they closed down for the animals’ afternoon break. I was glad the girls weren’t upset they couldn’t pet the donkey, sheep and goats. Since we had already been through the center, we didn’t want to hang out until the contact yard opened again two hours later.
One of the highlights of our trip was the brief program we attended after hearing it announced over the loud speaker. During that program, we were introduced to Arte.
Arte, the barred owl, was hit by a car in 1999 and ended up losing his left wing. He now lives at The Western North Carolina Nature Center and is part of their education program. He’s not on exhibit so if we hadn’t attended the program, we wouldn’t have seen him. The man who did the program was very patient with the little kids who asked him the same question other kids had already asked.
We spent around two hours exploring the Nature Center then had a picnic at the park nearby before heading to another spot for a few more hours of family time.
Find more great places to explore by visiting The Talking Trekaroo's Spotlight Thursday!
