Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary

The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary occupies 289 acres of forest, prairie, and wetland south of McKinney. The site combines a small natural-history museum with guided and self-guided nature trails through several distinct habitats — bottomland hardwood, upland prairie, and the floodplain of Wilson Creek.

The museum's main draws are the seasonal exhibits, including a popular annual "Dinosaurs Live!" outdoor display with large animatronic models set along a wooded trail. The native plant gardens around the visitor centre are good for spotting birds and butterflies. Wear closed shoes and bring water in summer — there is little shade once you leave the wooded sections, and Texas humidity is unforgiving.

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A story
The sanctuary's land was donated by Bessie Heard in 1967, when she was 80, to keep a piece of the Blackland Prairie from being lost to suburban sprawl spreading north from Dallas. Her instinct was right: the surrounding area went from cattle pasture to subdivisions within twenty years, and the Heard is now an island of native habitat surrounded by master-planned neighbourhoods.

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