Have you seen the 2006 movie, Night at the Museum? If so, you’ve had an inside look at the world famous American Museum of Natural History. Located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, this 4-storey building houses 46 exhibition halls, gift shops, research labs and a library. Inside you’ll find some amazing exhibits on the world’s natural history. You’ll learn about space and the evolution of Earth’s plants, insects, animals and humans dating from the Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago) to present day. Despite its massive size, the [kwlink 6563]Museum can only display a small portion of its more than 32 million specimens at one time.
The Rose Center for Earth and Space
Do you ever wonder how the universe was really created? In the Rose Center for Earth and Space, you’ll learn about the age-old Big Bang Theory. First you’ll watch a 4 minute video on a huge domed screen. Then learn how the universe evolved, how the Earth was formed and how life began on our planet. The 6-storey Rose Center spans a whopping 333500 square feet! That’s the size of almost 7 NFL football fields! And that’s only one of the Museum’s exhibits.
Permanent Exhibition Halls
There are tons of permanent exhibitions inside of the museum: rare minerals and gems, meteorites, ocean life, mammals, primates, reptiles and amphibians, human origins and, best of all, fossils (just to name a few). The fourth floor of the museum is dedicated to a fossil collection of dinosaurs, mammals, turtles, birds and more! You’ll find fish fossils dating back to the Devonian Period (360 million years ago) and mammoth fossils from the Pleistocene Period (19,000 years ago)…and everything in between!
Changing Exhibition Halls
Many of the halls are ever-changing to make room for new displays and specimens. Currently, the Museum is featuring exhibits on Extreme Mammals, Climate Change, Wild Ocean, Cosmic Collisions, Birds in Flight and Saturn. Check out their website (www.amnh.org/exhibitions/) for upcoming exhibits.
Plan a Visit
If you’re fascinated by the Earth’s evolution—by dinosaurs or mammals, early humans and evolving cultures, butterflies or birds or reptiles—then you’ll get a kick out of the American Museum of Natural History. You’ll see the animals and early humans in displays depicting their natural settings. So if you’re planning to visit, don’t forget your camera!
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