New York City-AMNH:
November 11, 2023 at the American Museum of Natural History:
During the trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, we were given the opportunity to learn about the ancient dinosaurs, vertebrates, and one of my choices; the hall of biodiversity. Dinosaurs!
Delving into the dinosaur tour led by Dr. Holtz, we learned about how fast dinosaurs aged and how we can tell from the growth rings in their bones, similar to trees. We also learned that many had gizzards (like chickens), and air sacs meaning that they were fast and efficient beings. As for the exhibit itself, there were many different components to make the information easier to digest especially for a younger crowd. Those included 3D models, posted important facts, and the many specimens themselves. The one thing however, is the setup of the exhibit itself. A couple hiccups happened along the way which resulted in the tyrannosaurus and gorgosaurus being shown they were closer related to the allosaurus when really they’re closer to branches of birds. This is a structural mishap which would take lots of time and effort to change. However there were faults in a couple of the signs and their information which would be a much easier fix and something that should happen sooner than later.
Hall of Biodiversity!
Now focusing on the self guided tour of the Hall of Biodiversity. This specific hall was covered in different plant species, different bugs, birds, smaller and bigger animals, and more. At first glance it already shows biodiversity. This exhibit talked lots about the loss of biodiversity and its causes and effects. This hall was adorned with many 3D models along with actual models of many different species, they also had a number of interactive screens in which you could choose any specimen and it would display the whole discography. This hall is perfect for younger (but also any) minds to learn lots about biodiversity among species.Vertebrates!
Circling back to our final guided tour by Dr. Merck, where we learned all about vertebrates. Fun fact, original Vertebrates didn't have jaws and they’re known as deposit feeders. Once they gained jaws, they could really eat what they could manage and become predatory; they also only really had cartilage insides. From there we learned about two separate groups, the ray fin fish group that had parallel splits of bone which essentially made up the fins and the lobe fin fish in which the fin rays come from a fleshy lobe which articulates into a fin. The lobe fin fish's fins had about 3ish sections similar to the makeup of a human arm. Like the other halls, they had many interactive 3D models and many specimens for visitors to gain information from. These 3D models however had different colored aspects which highlighted what the focus of the model was, they were also interactive and had hinges which was a nice touch since we were able to see how these jaws worked. I would say the exhibit is geared more towards middle school education and up and has tons of valuable information.