New High Desert Museum exhibit: ‘In the Dark’

It’s a dark, moonless night in the High Desert … prime time for nocturnal animals of all sorts. This is when small mammals like kangaroo mice and jack rabbits forage for food, find a mate and fulfill all their basic needs. For them, the light of day represents mortal danger from every direction.

That’s the subject of the Museum’s newest exhibit, In The Dark, opening Saturday. This traveling exhibit from the Cincinnati Museum Center delves into dark environments and introduces the unique life forms that adapt to life at night.

John Goodell, curator of natural history, says the high desert supports a tremendous population of nocturnal animals.

“It’s a cascading effect,” he said. “Wherever you have large populations of small nocturnal mammals there will also be a lot of predators that have adapted to hunt at night, when that prey is available. For instance, rattlesnakes, owls and the elusive ring-tailed cat.”

The hands-on exhibit leads visitors through a cave ecosystem and a forest at night, and introduces modern human adaptations to darkness. Live animals include scorpions, flying squirrels and several small, nocturnal mammals. Visitors will learn how birds find their way, flying at night, how bats use echo location, and how some species have adapted to life in the dark.

The evolutionary adaptations of nocturnal animals include excellent hearing, night vision and olfactory abilities not found in diurnal animals. Large eyes with wide pupils and a high concentration of rod cells capture allow animals to see in very low light. Offset ears in owls and movable ears on cats allow them to pinpoint where sound is coming from. Owls can hear a mouse from hundreds of yards away and glide in silently for the kill.

The exhibit runs until September 7 .