Event Name: American Museum of Natural History
Event time and place: November 11th 2023 in Manhattan, NY
For this excursion we were fortunate enough to be able to visit the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Our main purpose was to learn about evolution from two of the most experienced professors Dr. Merck and Dr. Holtz as they taught us numerous facts about the exhibits around us.
The first tour I went to was led by Dr. Merck, he discussed vertebrates and their evolution. He discussed the reasons why animals evolve and how previous animals from years ago have evolved into the animals we know of today. During this tour we viewed an exhibit of the first jawless vertebrates (ostracoderms). Dr. Merck said "Their jaws suddenly became big, making it possible for the formation of their jaws as well as chewing/biting". He drew our attention to an exhibit that was out of date and it was about pareiasaurs, this animal is believed to be a close relative to turtles and Dr. Merck shared with us about how this is innacurate and out of date. While looking around the halls, there were a lot of exhibits that were kind of cluttered together. But they were very interactive because they included technology and little ipads on the exhibits that displayed videos. This shows that it is targetted towards multiple age groups by having readings, hands on features and so much more which I really enjoyed.
The next tour we went to was led by Dr.Holtz. He discussed the sizes of dinosaurs and how they evolved overtime. He stated that "Their legs put them in a good position to increase in size" and shared a fun fact about dinosaur bones and how if you were to cut into a dinosaur bone it would show you their age of death by looking at the growth rings within the bones. This is similar to tree rings and how it can show when their environment was the healthiest. The size of each exhibit instantly grabs your attention making you look at the description and the large fossils making up an extinct dinosaur. Dr. Holtz pointed out a reading on an exhibit about Sauropods and explained how when the exhibit was first debuted in the 90s the information was accurate but as years passed it became more an more inaccurate. This hall was definitely interactive because there were many families taking photos infront of the huge fossils but also reading the small excerpts that came with the exhibits. The hall was also targetted towards all age groups because everyone around me were genuinely interested in what was around them
For our last tour we were assigned to go on a self guided tour to any exhibit we found interesting within the museum. I was accompanied by Akila and Mayuri and we went to the Ancient History of Asia exhibit. This exhibit mainly focused on religion. We saw gods of different religions within Asia, ways of payer and worship. In these exhibits they included books, statues, labels as well as religious writings. For every passage way we walked through we were captivated by the beautiful cultures around every corner. This exhibit aims towards everyone, it gives a deeper understanding of the significance of religion within each culture.
Overall, this was such a great experience, New York truly has my heart and I had so much fun exploring the museums as well as Times Square with my friends that I've made through SGC.