Idaho's Mammoth Cave and Shoshone Bird Museum

One of the weirdest, quirkiest, most interesting places we found in Idaho was The Mammoth Cave & Shoshone Bird Museum. Located just 10-miles north of the town of Shoshone, this fascinating place has been passed down generation to generation – and for good reasons.
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​It costs $15 for adults to enter both of the museums and the cave. We spent roughly two to three hours exploring all of the funky things inside, but with kids I could see it taking either longer or shorter depending on their intrigue with the crazy animals and other things in their collection.

See more from our entire road trip around Idaho and our 50-mile backpacking adventure through The Sawtooth Mountains on my Idaho page, here!

​There are two museums full of taxidermized animals from across the world. There had to have been over a thousand different kinds of mammals, insects, rodents, and invertebrates plus fossils, rocks, and pottery items on display. 

Some of the things are extremely rare, including the collection of two-bodied or two-headed animals. Those were probably my least favorite parts of the exhibit’s items, but most of the rest of the things we found absolutely fascinating.  ​​

The museums are located on top of a huge private cave, that probably stretches on for miles and miles underground, but they have only explored portions and opened an even smaller distance to the public. They give you lanterns to walk around because the cave has no lights or electricity and is completely dark inside. It was super fun to walk around like we were miners or explorers.

Inside the cave they have also found the remains of a cave bear, which apparently is different than a modern-day bear. It might have hibernated in the cave during an ice age or discovered the cave after a volcano. Some of the remains can be found on display inside one of the two museums.
 
Overall, it was such a fun little stop to explore the entire facility and all of their family heirlooms. It’s not like a normal museum, and that’s what we liked about it. If you are ever in the southern Idaho area we highly recommend a visit!
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Learn more about Idaho's Mammoth Cave and Shoshone Bird Museum of Natural History on their website here! 
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