Your Monthly News & Updates |
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Our Mission
To ignite the natural curiosity of all learners to explore and shape their world
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July Laser Shows
Before we begin our Laser Days of Summer in August, we’re featuring special laser shows in the planetarium at 9 p.m. every Friday in July! Tickets are on sale now, but these shows will sell out, so grab yours and come rock with us!
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Summer Adventure
Come enjoy hands-on summer fun and exploration across the lower half of the mountain Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
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STEM Days of Summer
This special event takes place during Summer Adventure every Friday in July and is jam-packed with additional hands-on, interactive demonstrations and activities thanks to some of our community partners in the Upstate.
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Friday Starry Nights
Magic Tree House: Space Mission
July 1, 8, 15, 22
4:30 p.m. or 6 p.m.
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Friday Starry Nights
Tales of the Maya Skies
July 1, 8, 15, 22
7:30 p.m.
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Leave Your Legacy on the Mountain |
Purchase a personalized brick that will go along the front entrance path to the Environmental Science Building, and have your name on the mountain for years to come!
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Coloring Contest
Did you know you can enter to win a free personalized brick and a kids' Roper Mountain Summer Adventure
t-shirt?
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MOUNTAIN HIGHLIGHT:
HARRISON HALL OF NATURAL SCIENCE
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Harrison Hall continues to grow and improve the experience for all visitors. This month the new Mountain Stream Trout Tank opened after being closed to upgrade the tank, art background, and enclosure elements. Be sure to visit this revitalized exhibit and mountain trout the next time you visit our Ecology Lab!
Improvements continue in the Rainforest Classroom where two new recent additions are on display. Five red-eyed tree frogs and five blue & black poison dart frogs. Both groups are of young frogs that were captive bred at the Dallas Zoo.
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The black spots found on the poison dart frogs are unique to each frog and can be a way to identify each individual, although their spots can change slightly as they age. Did you know that poison dart frogs bred in captivity don’t actually have any dangerous toxins? The poison in the frogs found in their natural habitat is derived from their native diets, with the most toxic species feeding on ants, mites, and termites – all of which feed on the toxic plants found in their humid, tropical jungles in Central and South America.
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Red-eyed tree frogs are able to camouflage themselves to an extent with their bright green bodies, but giant red eyes and stunning blue and yellow colors on their sides make them stick out from other varieties. The frogs use these colors to their advantage; if they are threatened by a predator, they use their dazzling colors as a way to disorient and startle their would-be foe. Red-eyed tree frogs are found in the rainforests from Mexico all the way down to Colombia and are more active at night.
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We are grateful for our community partners, and AFL Global is no exception! Recently they had 65 national sales managers from across the US come to Roper Mountain for a series of meetings and an afternoon of service. In addition to tackling a lot of tasks, they surprised our staff with a $3,000 donation!
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We are excited about our new partnership with Greenville County Recreation District! This summer, students from their seven community centers will visit Summer Adventure and see a planetarium show. Our outreach specialist will also visit each center with a Science On Wheels program this summer and throughout the school year. To kick things off, the camp counselors and leaders came for a tour as part of their training and had a great time meeting several of our reptilian friends.
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Come visit libraries around the Upstate to enjoy hands-on STEM fun.
Our brand-new public assembly, Coastal Critters, allows participants to meet and learn about some of the animals that populate our shorelines. You’ll discover how they are an important part of marine ecosystems. Using a combination of live animals, biofacts and videos, participants will get a first-hand look at what these amazing creatures are like.
July 12 – Landrum Library, 11 a.m.
July 19 – Cyrill-Westside Library, Spartanburg, 2 p.m.
Sometimes science demonstrations can seem like magic. The difference is, scientists love to explain how things work! During Science Magic, your educator will perform several demonstrations that may first seem like magic. Then, with the help of volunteers and observations from the audience, we will figure out the science behind the trick, and learn what is really happening. Cherokee County libraries will have the following assembly dates:
July 12 – Main Library, Gaffney, 11 a.m.
July 12 – Blacksburg Library, 2 p.m.
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…that our Tropical Rainforest in Harrison Hall of Natural Science has a “chocolate tree”? The tree is our Cacao Tree and it’s the source for cocoa beans which become chocolate. The cocoa beans are found inside the large fruit pods on the tree. Inside the fruit pod is a layer of sweet pulp that has anywhere from 20 to 60 seeds; this may seem like a lot, but in actuality, it takes three to four fruit pods to make just one bar of chocolate!
After the fruit pods are harvested in the morning, the cocoa beans are fermented in the open air on the ground covered with banana leaves. Next, they are dried in the sun, being turned often for between two and nine days, then toasted and roasted for the chocolate taste we all know and love.
The Cacao Tree originated in the upper Amazon and was imported into the Mexican empire of the Olmec, who domesticated it and then sent it to the Mayans. The consumption of cocoa beans was restricted to the Mayan society’s elite, and was consumed in the form of an unsweetened cocoa drink made from the ground beans. The type of cacao the Maya grew is the least bitter and most sweet-smelling of all cacao beans. They believed that kakaw – as they called it – was given to them by the Gods.
Come visit during Summer Adventure to discover our Cacao Tree in our Rainforest and to explore our traveling Mayan exhibit, where you can discover more about the connection of cocoa beans to the Mayans as you try to solve the Mystery of the Mayan Medallion.
Submitted by Life Science Specialist Tim Taylor
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Give Back to Roper Mountain
We appreciate your consideration in making a donation to support our mission to help lay the foundation for future successes for school and public programming. Make a Gift.
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AmazonSmile
You can support Roper Mountain in the Amazon Shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones. Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations. 1. Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device 2. Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings' 3. Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. We appreciate your continued support of Roper Mountain, now more than ever.
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THANK YOU COMMUNITY PARTNERS |
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Visionary:
BMW Manufacturing
Bosch Community Fund
Community Foundation of Greenville
Daniel-Mickel Foundation
Dodge Industrial
Duke Energy Foundation
Fluor Golf For Greenville
Greater Greenville Sanitation Commission
Greenville County Litter Prevention
Greenville Water
The Late Ernest and Betty Lathem
Lockheed Martin
MetroConnects
Michelin Charity Golf Tournament
Piedmont Arthritis Clinic, PA
ReWa
SCETV
South Carolina Farm Bureau
Explorer:
Fluor Foundation
General Electric
South Carolina Charities
WK Dickson
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Voyager:
Debbie Bell
Tom and Linda Hamilton
The Darrell Harrison Family
Ron and Tommie Reece
Brad Wyche and Diane Smock
Adventurer:
Bank of Travelers Rest
Greenville County Soil and Water
ScanSource Charitable Foundation
Hal and Minor Shaw
State Farm Insurance
Innovator:
AFL Global
Rob and Katie Howell
John R. and M. Margrite Davis Foundation
Les and Kay Knight
Piedmont Natural Gas
Scott and Pam Powell
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We welcome your feedback. Email Roper Mountain to share your thoughts.
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