Mayborn Museum Podcast

This Venus flower basket sponge lives in deep ocean waters near the Philippine Islands but it’s not alone. A male and female shrimp live inside it and keep it clean in exchange for protection.

View hairballs formed in the stomach of cows and buffalo, which the Native Americans consider good luck charms and use to play games. Nearby is a three-banded Brazilian armadillo, which is the only armadillo species that can roll into a ball.

See one of the oldest objects in the museum’s collection: a fossilized horn of a Triceratops found in Colorado and believed to be 65 to 73 million years old.

Learn about the museum’s expansion under curator John K. Strecker Jr., who served for 30 years.

Welcome to this random display of the unusual and eclectic. These unnamed items scattered through filled cabinets and drawers originated with 19th century museums when collections were designed to shock and amaze rather than entertain and educate.

Watch the complete lifecycle of a butterfly as it goes through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. View this amazing metamorphosis from the laying of a tiny egg on a specially-picked plant.

Spiders, scorpions, insects, millipedes, and centipedes all have jointed legs and are arthropods found in the Live Insect Room.

Invertebrates make up 99 percent of all animals on the earth and some species, like spiders, are so small they go unnoticed. But one thing they all have in common is they lack backbones.

The Mexican Kingsnake is known as the king of all snakes. It eats lizards and other snakes as well by unhinging its jaw to open its mouth to three times its normal size. That’s a mouthful.

This pretty Cockatiel hails from the land down under, Australia. Learn about this fun-loving and sweet bird, and have a g’day mate.

This type of lizard lives in trees in the South and Central American rainforests and camouflages itself through its green color. It likes light and keeps warm by soaking up the sun. Don’t anger it or it will hiss and spit at you.

Try to spot this gecko, which is named for its leopard-type spots. Their unique spots help these nocturnal lizards hide in their rocky habitat. Don’t worry if their tails fall off. They grow right back.

Learn why these turtles are known as the “elaborately decorated” reptiles with special yellow markings and a cool shell that is hinged on its belly to keep predators at bay.

Learn about the origin of model railroading. This hobby began in the late 1800s and took off in the United States in the 1920s, and now enjoys widespread popularity. Hear how trains are classified by size and scale as you tour our own popular model train.