Event name: American Museum of Natural History Field Trip
American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY (11/11/2023)
Over the course of our tours of the Halls of Dinosaurs and of Vertebrate Origins, we were exposed to a wide variety of fields of science and aspects of the natural world. In particular, Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck spent the tours discussing paleontology, cladistics, and evolution. They discussed the way relationships between creatures changed and how they functioned. Beyond that, they both discussed several fascinating specific concepts and discoveries. Dr. Holtz discussed the behaviors and anatomies of dinosaurs and how they related to each other. He noted that young Tyrannosaurs are incredibly fast and that the discovery of duck-billed dinosaurs was extremely odd, coming as a surprise to much of the paleontological community. One of the most interesting discoveries he mentioned was the use of air sacs and countercurrent exchange in large sauropods allowing them to grow and efficiently use oxygen. Another interesting detail that he mentions is that birds are classified as dinosaurs because of their ancestry, but they are not classified as bird-hipped dinosaurs. He also discussed how duck-billed dinosaurs with tubed nasal passages likely communicated by making sounds through their passages.
Beyond the information from Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck themselves, part of the reason the tour was so intriguing is the organization of information in the halls. There are abundant graphics, drawings, and texts all over relevant areas of the halls. Some that I found particularly useful were the various skeletal diagrams with each reconstructed extinct animal. For example, I struggled to understand the structure of the Sterospondyls and how to relate them to modern day animals. It was only with the skeletal diagrams and descriptive text explaining the key features of Sterospondyls (small limbs, flat skulls with extensive fusion and large palatal openings) that I could make more sense of them. Additionally, it was wonderful to the timelines that helped me conceptualize the evolutions of fish from bactinus audax to modern-day species. These descriptive features make the hall suitable for all levels of education, including and especially those with little or basic knowledge of paleontology and cladistics. It has many simple educational interactive features or descriptions or graphics designed to help explain concepts to beginners, but also has more detailed and advanced descriptions for those more experienced in the field.
The halls both make excellent use of interactive components, as with almost every exhibit I can find several interactive stations which provide clarifying information in a fun way that is up to the user. Examples include in the Hall of Vertebrate Origins where early fish and vertebral ancestors are shown and their evolution and families are described. I find the interactive elements to be very useful. They provide audio descriptions of whatever I am interested in from the displays. I love seeing the graphics and representations of how species evolved or moved as times changed. Speaking of changes, Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck both mention some examples of outdated information in the museum. Dr. Holtz mentioned that the skull labeled as a diplodocus skull was actually mislabeled. Dr. Merck remarked that the plesiosaur was placed near the turtle exhibit based on the misconception that the two were closely related, when they actually are far from it.
I am incredibly grateful to have gotten to experience such an intriguing and informational excursion, and I look forward to more excursions in the future!