Field Trip to the American Museum of Natural History
November 11, 2023: New York City
Through Dr. Holtz, I realized how much of my knowledge about dinosaurs was wrong. I was led to believe that dinosaurs were just big lizards that lived millions of years ago. I learned that dinosaurs are their own group of organisms that are related to lizards. They evolved differently and have unique characteristics fit for their survival, digestion, and consumption. Dinosaurs have a hole in their hip bones where the leg bones connect with the main part of their body. If you examine modern day skeletons of animals, you will not be able to find the same feature. Triceratops have a large plate on their lead with three extending horns that help protect themselves against predators. There are several species of duck billed dinosaurs that have some goofy shaped heads! However, each species has a unique build. Some were meant for defense and protection while others used the shape for communication. It is interesting how modern day scientists are able to recreate/predict what sounds came out of the head based on its structure alone. Everything looked up to date but there were little interactive aspects for the visitors. There were times where we could touch a sample fossil for the presented dinosaur, but honestly, all of the samples felt pretty similar to me. It did not really help extend on my knowledge of the exhibit. It would have been nice if there was a screen/computer that showed 3-D models of the dinosaurs where the visitors could take a more in depth look at the organisms. All of the fossil displays were very big and hard to examine in detail. Also, I think the exhibit where Dr. Holtz took us was geared towards middle to high school students. Most of the information on the displays were easy to understand and did not use too complicated terminology.
The tour given by Dr. Merck was more detailed and covered a lot of information. This tour covered evolution and the ancient relatives of modern day species many of us were familiar with like crocodiles and sharks. It was intriguing to examine these two organisms and see what changed in their structure throughout the millions of years. These ancient species were considerably larger than their modern day counterparts and were quite intimidating. We were also examining phylogenetic trees throughout the various exhibits. It is this type of information that makes this presentation a bit more advanced and is probably more suitable for high school students and older. The various stages of evolution and the descriptions behind it may be too complicated for younger visitors to understand. I do not think they would be able to notice patterns of evolution and what changed throughout the organism development through the years. Even if they did, they would also have some trouble understanding the changes in the organisms. There were no interactive components to go along with the specimens. It would have been really helpful to put model casts of the specimens out for visitors to see up close. With this we could closely examine the skeletons and other defining features of the animal. Moreover, if the museum put model casts of the same species from different points in time, we would be able to compare how the organism developed through the years and see how the new features helped them survive. I think the only out of date piece in the exhibit was the picture of the plesiosaurus that was painted in the 19th century. In the image there was no top fin on the animal, but since then we have discovered that this animal did in fact have one.
Finally, my friends and I ventured to the Hall of Asian Mammals on the second floor of the museum. At a first glance, many of the displayed organisms seemed like animals I was already familiar with, but once I read the descriptions of the animals, I noticed that these were species specific to the Asian continent with their own special characteristics. The most prominent exhibit in the hall was the Asian Elephant. Unlike its counterpart on the African continent, this elephant was much smaller. The hall emphasized the diversity in wildlife in the continent. Many species shown in the exhibit were endangered due to habitat loss and poaching in their areas and it seemed like this exhibit focused on that topic. Moreover, the hall talked about species found in countries I was not too familiar with like Myanmar and it gave me a better understanding of this region. This hall was focused on visuals and provided real-life sized displays of the animals. Because of this aspect I think this hall could cater to visitors of all ages. I do not think there was too much complicated information or topics covered. Of course, we could not directly touch the models so having more on-hands components would have been cool like a patch of fur or skin.
Tiny Stegosaurus model next to its adult skeleton!
T-Rex Skeleton
Outline of an ancient turtle shell
Model of gibbons at the
Hall of Asian Mammals