Highlights from the American Museum of Natural History
Discover fun facts about the Museum’s most popular exhibits.
Titanosaur by Denis Finnin/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Titanosaur
This cast of a juvenile sauropod is 122 feet long! The species, Patagotitan mayorum, was discovered in 2014 in Argentina.
Floor 4, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center
Megalodon
This extinct shark’s name means “big tooth.” Fun fact: its bite was stronger than T. rex’s!
Floor 4, Hall of Vertebrate Origins
Tyrannosaurus rex by Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Tyrannosaurus rex
One of the largest carnivores ever, T. rex was discovered on a Museum expedition. This mount, which is about 45 percent fossil, has been on view since 1915, its pose adjusted over time.
Floor 4, Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs
Triceratops by Matt Shanley/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Triceratops
This famous horned dinosaur, a plant eater, replaced its 144+ teeth two to four times a lifetime.
Floor 4, Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs
Lestodon
This giant ground sloth, an extinct mammal from South America called Lestodon, is “armored” due to bony plates in its skin.
Floor 4, Hall of Primitive Mammals
Mammoth by Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Mammoth
Larger than its woolly relative, this extinct pachyderm lived in Indiana about 11,000 years ago.
Floor 4, Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals
Moai Statue by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Moai Statue
This is a cast of a moai on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The people of Rapa Nui made these stone statues to honor ancestors.
Floor 3, Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples
Hadrosaur Footprint
A duck-billed dinosaur likely made this impression pulling its foot out of mud 83–72 million years ago.
Floor 3, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core
Komodo Dragon by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Komodo Dragon
One venomous bite from this Indonesian lizard, the biggest and most powerful lizard alive today, can kill its prey!
Floor 3, Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians
Barosaurus and Allosaurus by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Barosaurus and Allosaurus
This imagined face-off features the world’s tallest freestanding dinosaur mount. It’s a cast because real fossils are too heavy to position in this way.
Floor 2, Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda
African Elephant by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
African Elephant
African elephants are the largest living land mammals. They live in family groups of 10–20, led by the oldest female.
Floor 2, Akeley Hall of African Mammals
Gorilla
Carl Akeley planned this diorama in the 1920s to call attention to these extraordinary animals, which were already overhunted.
Floor 2, Akeley Hall of African Mammals
King Penguin by Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
King Penguin
King Penguin parents near Antarctica take turns watching over eggs and chicks, carrying them on their feet to protect them from cold.
Floor 2, Hall of Birds of the World
Climate Wall
On this dynamic exhibit, data from NASA, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and other sources highlight vital climate indicators and effects of climate change.
Floor 1, David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth
Alaska Brown Bear by Denis Finnin/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Alaska Brown Bear
In this iconic diorama, hungry bears fresh from hibernation get a welcome salmon, ceded by a sea otter in retreat.
Floor 1, Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Spectrum of Life by Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Spectrum of Life
This exhibit of 1,500 organisms, from amoebas to six-banded armadillos, offers an overview of the amazing diversity of life on Earth.
Floor 1, Theodore Roosevelt Hall of Biodiversity
Blue Whale (2025-08-01) by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Blue Whale
The largest animal ever to live on our planet wasn’t a dinosaur—it’s the blue whale! This iconic life-size model is 94 feet long.
Floor 1, Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life
Sperm Whale and Giant Squid by Alvaro Keding & Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Sperm Whale and Giant Squid
This diorama is a deep-sea encounter humans have not witnessed but deduce from whales’ scars and stomach contents.
Floor 1, Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life
Giant Sequoia (2025-07-23) by Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Giant Sequoia
Felled by loggers in California in 1891, the tree from which this slice was cut grew for more than 1,300 years.
Floor 1, Hall of North American Forests
Great Canoe by Alvaro Keding/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Great Canoe
Carved from a single western red cedar tree, this 63-foot canoe shows the work of both Haíłzaqv and Haida artists of the Pacific Northwest.
Floor 1, Northwest Coast Hall
Lucy
Here, visitors can see a cast of the 3.18-million-year-old “Lucy” fossil, which offers evidence that this species of human ancestor walked upright.
Floor 1, Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins
Giant Geodes by Daniel Kim/© AMNHAmerican Museum of Natural History
Giant Geodes
The crystals in this dazzling pair of geodes took millions of years to turn from colorless quartz to purple amethyst.
Floor 1, Allison and Roberto Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals
Star of India
This is the largest-known gem-quality star sapphire, at just over 563 carats—and it is about 2 billion years old!
Floor 1, Allison and Roberto Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals
See these exhibits and more at the American Museum of Natural History! Get your tickets now.
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