The Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri, merits its nickname: WOW. First of all, it’s huge. One wing of the museum honors wildlife conservation a la Teddy Roosevelt. The other wing is an expansive aquarium showcasing local and global aquatic habitats, which was recently named “America’s Best Aquarium” by USA Today readers for the fifth year in a row (and sixth time overall since WOW opened in 2017).
Photo: Johnny Morris Conservation Foundation/Wonders of Wildlife
Penguin Encounters and Shark Dives: What's Inside 'America's Best Aquarium' and Wildlife Museum
WOW is supported by funding from the nonprofit Johnny Morris Conservation Foundation, which is behind several conservation attractions in Missouri, along with conservation partners ranging from sport-fishing organizations to the National Park Service. Here’s what’s inside.
The Wildlife Galleries
Photo: Devin Reese
The wildlife galleries celebrate the protected areas of the US — national parks, national forests, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges. A series of detailed dioramas highlight animals and plants found in diverse ecoregions. For example, the Chugach National Forest diorama exhibits Sitka deer in a lush rainforest typical of southeast Alaska, with the specimens and ferns so well crafted that you feel like you’re there. The Grand Canyon National Park diorama displays a herd of javelinas (or “peccaries”) in the arid, rocky Southwest alongside their agave food plants.
The wildlife galleries take you through history, from Indigenous inhabitants to the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804. A replica of Theodore Roosevelt’s cabin invites you into the legacy he left in conservation by putting millions of acres of land under public protection. In the last gallery, you find polar dioramas, along with a flock of live Gentoo penguins.
Penguin Encounter
Photo: Devin Reese
If you fall in love with WOW’s penguins, a ticket for the Penguin Encounter gets you even closer. Bundle up a bit because Gentoo penguins are native to chilly Antarctica where they’re near-threatened in the wild. The 15-minute encounter feels longer because you’re face to face with penguins, behind a low plastic barrier.
In October, Gentoo penguins are in mating season (which ranges from about July to November). Every once in a while during my visit, a pair of males got into a noisy squabble. A keeper explained that the disc-shaped piles of rocks were nests. Males win females by presenting smooth pebbles, and the male that brings the best pebbles ultimately scores a mate.
Aquarium Adventure
Photo: Devin Reese
At the aquarium entrance, you’re surrounded by ocean and fishing life in the Great Oceans Hall. Climb the winding stairs to look at the fishing boat that belonged to Zane Grey, an adventurer who wrote about the American frontier — when author Ernest Hemingway rode in that very boat, he was inspired to get one of his own.
When you step into the aquarium, you enter a dim, watery world with exhibits on all sides. Thousands of herring swim in continual circles in a floor-to-ceiling cylindrical tank. In one of the many saltwater tanks, a smooth giant clam sits on the seafloor showing its fleshy “mantle” shell lining dotted with hundreds of light-sensing eyespots. In other tanks, you find a Caribbean spiny lobster creeping under schools of tropical fish, or a frenzy of colorful activity on a shipwreck reef. A wall of jellies pulses like phantoms.
Photo: Devin Reese
The freshwater tanks are no less spectacular. In a maze of canals, you can meet an albino alligator or say hello to Genny Mae, one of the biggest known large-mouth basses. Like so much of the aquarium, you get views from many angles of the habitats, such as the Community Pond where ancient longnose gar cruise the cobbled bottom. Visit myriad streams, rivers, and cypress swamps.
Out to Sea Shark Dive
Photo: Devin Reese
If you still want to get closer to ocean wildlife, get a ticket to the Out to Sea Shark Dive. You dress down to a bathing suit and don a wetsuit and booties provided by the aquarium. After a tutorial on how to behave, including hand signals for any problems, you step down into a suspended cage. Once the staff slips an oxygen helmet over your head, you’re good to go. From where you sit on the bottom of the cage, you have a great view of the ocean scene, which includes several sharks, as well as myriad fish and a ray.
During the 15-minute shark experience, I found myself gradually acclimating to the setting and noticing things like fish swimming between the bars to enter the cage with me. The sharks — which included sand tiger sharks and nurse sharks — are species not usually aggressive to humans unless threatened. Still, I kept my fingers inside the bars as I watched them cruise by.
Ray Touch Tank
Photo: Devin Reese
The last aquarium feature is a large, low saltwater tank loaded with several species of stingrays. You’re allowed to reach in and pat their backs with two fingers. Many of them come right to you, thinking you might have food. I was mesmerized for half an hour by the feel of their smooth skin.
Where to eat at Wonders Of Wildlife
Hemingway’s Blue Water Cafe
Photo: Devin Reese
Hemingway’s Blue Water Cafe is connected to WOW through the Bass Pro Shop. Its decor and menu are a lively tribute to Ernest Hemingway’s passion for saltwater fishing. As you dine on a selection of everyday favorites like fish and chips, or innovative options like local bison-black bean chili, you see ocean fish swimming in a 30,000-gallon aquarium.
Hemingway’s Blue Water Cafe: 1 Bass Pro Dr, Springfield, MO 65807
Getting to Wonders Of Wildlife
Photo: Devin Reese
WOW is located in Springfield, Missouri, just 15 minutes from the Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF). It’s easy to get a rideshare from the airport to WOW and downtown Springfield, but Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, and several other car rental agencies also operate out of SGF. 