May Natural History Museum

The May Natural History Museum of the Tropics, located southwest of Colorado Springs, is a unique museum; there is not another like it on the continent! With over 7,000 species of beautiful butterflies, moths, bizarre beetles, giant spiders, deadly scorpions and more! Known as the “Bug Museum” to many children and families around the area, the May Natural History Museum is a fun place for bug enthusiasts, scientists and anybody wanting to explore the creepy and crawly!

Beginning in 1929, John M. May and his late father, James F. W. May, started exhibiting their Tropical display at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Canada, and at Flower Shows and Sports Shows in many large American cities. These showings were so popular and won the Mays so much attention that they have continued them right up to the present. They have put on their exhibitions in almost every U.S. state and every province of Canada. In the 1940’s John May built a permanent museum and headquarters building on their ranch nine miles southwest of Colorado Springs and one mile west of Highway 115. It is near Fort Carson and today a replica of the Hercules Beetle of the West lndies marks the turnoff to the Museum.