- You don't have to travel the world to see exotic animals from places like Africa, Europe, and New Zealand.

You can see them in Washington County.

Producer Clay Johnson takes us to Plymouth and a museum you wouldn't expect to find in a small eastern North Carolina town.

[intriguing music] - [Clay] Plymouth is a small town of just over 3,000 people.

Its quiet, quaint downtown is right on the Roanoke River, and in the middle of it is a place called Bear-Ology, part of the larger God's Creation Museum.

- Well, this is our North American exhibit with animals from Mexico to Canada and Alaska.

And this is our touch table, which we created so people can actually feel what it would be like to pet a bear or to pet a beaver or an otter.

- [Clay] Tom Harrison is the owner and curator of the museum.

- I had collected a number of mounted animals as I traveled around the world.

I decided to move the animals into a museum setting where the public could come and see these animals.

And it's been very popular.

So, it is a rare opportunity to get an up-close examination of these animals that you're not gonna see anywhere else in a public setting.

People seem to be pretty stunned when they walk in because they're not expecting to see, you know, hundreds of animals mounted, you know, in a building in downtown Plymouth.

Well, this is my trapper's cabin, and when we go inside, we're actually gonna change continents.

- [Clay] The trapper's cabin leads to an Africa exhibit that includes varieties of antelope, a forest elephant, and lions.

The multinational exhibit features animals from four continents, including an antelope called the Greater Kudu, with its unique spiral horn.

- So, when you look through it, that's what you see.

It's a perfect round circle.

- [Clay] Harrison founded the Plymouth's Annual Black Bear Festival in 2015.

- [Harrison] And the whole purpose of the festival was to educate the public about these magnificent animals that we have.

- [Clay] His Bear-Ology exhibit is an offshoot of the festival, allowing visitors to dig deeper.

- It gives people the opportunity to learn so many amazing facts about these animals, to see mounted examples of them, and find out what makes them so unique and amazing.

- [Clay] Plymouth is in a five-county region between the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico River that has the highest black bear density and some of the largest black bears in the world.

Two large wildlife refuges surrounded by fields of corn, soybeans, and peanuts make it the perfect habitat.

- We do a lot of myth-busting in Bear-Ology.

People ask me, "What should I do if I see a bear?"

And I say, "Enjoy the moment because it'll soon be a memory."

We're not on the menu, fortunately.

- So, but how much you think that bear is?

- 775 pounds.

- [Clay] Matt Little likes to bring his sons Hayden and Grant to this museum.

- I've watched kids just in amazement that have never seen stuff like this before.

Been able to get this close to something like this.

And that's what I enjoy about coming in here.

- Before I ever came here, I had never seen half of these animals in my life, you know.

- I like to come and see the snakes because like all the patterns and different signs on the snakes are just cool to look at.

- [Matt] It's something truly great for Washington County and Plymouth and something people should definitely pull off of 64 and see.

- We're hoping that people will have a greater appreciation for the beauty and unique character of the wildlife on this planet and tell others about it.

[lively music] - The Bear-Ology and God's Creation Wildlife Museum is at 111 West Water Street in Plymouth.

Both museums are open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 PM.

To find out more, give them a call at [252] 793-6627 or go online to bear-ology.com.