Time is running out on the Smithsonian’s seven-year loan of the Key Marco Cat to Marco Island Historical Museum. After traveling through time and space to return to its birthplace on Marco Island in Southwest Florida, the world-famous Key Marco Cat returns to Washington, D.C. in April 2026.
The Key Marco Cat, a half cat/half human wood carving, is remarkably well preserved. It is considered by archaeologists throughout the world as one of the finest pieces of pre-Columbian Native American art ever discovered in North America.
The Key Marco Cat is on loan to Marco Island Historical Society and Museum by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The enigmatic feline’s seven-year stay at Marco Island Historical Museum is the longest it has been on loan to any other institution. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see the world-famous artifact while it is still on exhibit within the island setting in which it was discovered in 1896…