In the museum
you'll find wonderful dioramas of South Dakota's outdoor habitats... a prairie, an eastern
South Dakota woodland, a wetland, agricultural lands and even a backyard landscape!
Mounted Canada geese fly through the building from the entrance, guiding visitors into the
museum. They fly through the museum, overhead, guiding visitors past several habitat areas
and into the wetland where the final goose is shown landing in the water. Nearby, you can
see a muskrat near his hut, a pintail duck and a few mallards swimming.
 The center-piece of the
room is the 3,000 gallon streambank aquarium. It is filled with native species of fish
found in typical warm water lakes in South Dakota. Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass,
Walleye, Perch, Bluegills, Catfish and Crappie are often temporary inhabitants of the
tank. We feed the fish on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. Visitors often stop to see how
and what our fish like to eat.
 Looking into the aquarium,
you will feel like you are in a cutaway of a streambank. Roots protrude into the water
from the bank of the stream. You'll often find several Perch and Crappie tucked into the
roots, staying away from the predator fish like the Northern Pike.
About 300 gallons of water rotate in and out of the aquarium every minute! Each week, our
aquarium maintenance staff changes 300 gallons of water, too. It's a difficult task to
keep a tank this big squeaky clean!
What Do I Hear?
As you walk through the museum, your motion triggers our sound system.
When you walk by the woodland diorama, listen for the sounds of a deer
walking through the woods, a turkey gobbling, a Great Horned Owl, a Yellow Bellied
Sapsucker and more!
Near the wetland you'll hear geese flying by, ducks quacking, a muskrat
splashing, a Red-Winged Blackbird and more! Listen carefully for all the sounds in the
museum!
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