Anita Purves Nature Center

05/13/2026

Would you like a poster?

We've been sorting through our collections the past few weeks, and we have a surplus of posters! All are ones that we either already have multiple copies of in our collection, or no longer fit the theme of our exhibitions.

Posters cover a variety of topics, mostly Illinois-centric, from weather to trees, reptiles to salamanders, birds to bees, Illinois habitats and more!

Whether they're going to your home for decor, a classroom for educational purposes, or to another museum for display, stop on by and grab as many as you'd like!

Posters will be available in the lobby until Tuesday, June 2. If any are left by then, they will be donated!

05/13/2026

05/11/2026

Event Alert!

Want to learn more about mosquitoes, including how to keep yourself safe from them, and contribute to community science, public health data, and public safety? You can become a mosquito ambassador!

Join us at APNC this Thursday, May 14, from 6-7PM to learn more! We'll be joined by Kylee Noel from the Medical Entomology Laboratory; Kylee will show you to become a mosquito ambassador and you can even get a take home kit that helps you monitor these insects!

05/11/2026

What's Lightning thinking in the first photo...? 🦉🤔 Comment your guesses!

Anita Purves Nature Center's education owl had a wonderful 6th birthday celebration last Friday! Huge thank you to everyone who came to the event, tuned into the livestream, and donated. 🎉

Even though Lightning was too distracted by the crowd of his fans to eat his "birthday cake" on camera, you can watch the recorded stream on YouTube: qr1.be/2KF6E5

05/09/2026

Learn how establishing the right "w**d" for your pond or wetland can help support native bees, including a local endangered bee, the Pickerelw**d Longhorned Bee. Friday, May 29, 3:00-4:30pm at Meadowbrook Park. Register here: go.illinois.edu/Pickerelw**d

05/08/2026

Thank you SO much to everyone who came out for Lightning's birthday party last Friday! Including the numbers from his livestream, over 200 people celebrated the birthday of our favorite COVID baby! We love seeing all the art and cards y'all made for Lightning, and thank you to those who bought something off his wishlist!

Our ESO Coordinator recorded a video with Lightning opening his presents. Can't say he reacted much to them, but we'll see if he decides to play with his gifts, which are in his enclosure now!

Would you want us to have birthday party events for our other ambassador animals? We think it would be fun to watch our turtles eat a fruit cake!

05/07/2026

Don't BEE afraid!!!

Our Don't Bee Afraid program, all about our native bees and how to safely interact with and appreciate them, is tonight! Entomologist and Public Programs Coordinator Sreelakshmi Suresh will be teaching us about bees, and if you or someone you know has a fear of these fuzzy pollinators, then this is the perfect program to attend!

Meet us at APNC at 6PM tonight for a buzzing program!

(photo provided by Connor Ross)

05/06/2026

Inspired by a post from the New England Aquarium on the Boston Marathon, and by the recent(ish) Illinois Marathon during our annual race weekend, we got to wondering: how fast could some of our animals at APNC complete a marathon?

The science isn't super clear on all our estimated speeds for our critters, but was based off several figures we were able to find for our species, or closely related ones. And of course, anyone who's run a marathon knows you can't run max speed the whole time, as estimated here, but where would be the fun in slowing our animals down for this hypothetical scenario?

05/01/2026

Are you excited for Lightning's birthday tonight?! We can't wait to celebrate our beloved ambassador owl turning 6 years old!

Not able to make it in person? No worries! We'll have a livestream of his party starting at 6:30pm Central Time tonight (link in the comments).

Want to buy a gift for Lightning? Check out his wishlist in the comments!

How else can you contribute? Share positive messages with us about Lightning if you've ever seen him in-person, whether that was in his home or at a program, from birthday parties to owl prowls to school visits! Also feel free to share any art or photos of our born model Lightning!

04/30/2026

Our Real Life Minecraft event is coming up in just ten days! This will be a fun event where registered participants can learn skills such as firestarting, woodworking, and archery, watch blacksmiths at work, interact with our ambassador animals and more! Registration link in the comments!

We are also looking for adult volunteers who would be willing to help us at all our stations! The volunteer form is linked in the comments as well.