Event name: American Museum of Natural History
Event time and place: November 22, 2025 in NYC, NY:
The Impact: End of the Age of Dinosaurs exhibit focuses on the asteroid impact that happened 66 million years ago and begins by showing the different types of dinosaurs that were alive before the event. As visitors move through the exhibit, they see displays like a triceratops surrounded by other species and a large Mosasaurus hunting in the water. These displays use physical samples such as teeth and skin textures that visitors can touch, and the triceratops section also shows the environment with trees, plants, and other animals to explain predator and prey relationships. The exhibit then shifts into the aftermath of the impact and uses the remains of the triceratops to show the destruction, followed by displays about the evidence scientists use to understand what happened. The layout starts with marine life, then expands into global diversity including plants, birds, insects, and fish to show how different species lived together in ecosystems. After that, the exhibit explains where different dinosaurs lived by region and ends with a film about the asteroid impact and its effects. The information is presented in a clear way that a casual visitor can understand because facts are broken into smaller clips or sections. The color changes from green to red to yellow to help show the timeline from life before the impact to recovery afterward. The final part of the exhibit connects the event to today by showing how Earth healed even after losing most of its species and how life continued, which helps explain why humans and modern animals exist. It also ends with blue colors that represent the idea that people today can protect themselves if a similar event ever occurred.
During the Collections Core, the tour explained how natural history collections are made, the kinds of specimens stored in museums, and why they matter. We saw different types of preserved specimens, such as dried plants and stuffed birds, and learned that they are collected through careful methods like field collection and long term preservation so scientists can study them. Natural history specimens are useful because they help people learn about biodiversity, evolution, and environmental change. There are also ethical questions about collecting specimens, such as whether removing an organism harms the population, and scientists must consider these issues before collecting.
For the self guided tour, I went to the Hall of Human Origins. The hall is organized to show the story of human evolution starting with three skeletons at the entrance: a chimpanzee, a Neanderthal, and a modern human. Surrounding them are different types of apes and displays about DNA similarities. The hall moves step by step from early primates to ancient human relatives and highlights major stages such as Homo erectus and Neanderthals. One display compares genetic similarities between chimps and humans and shows a phylogenetic tree with bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. Another item is the skeletal remains of an ancient human relative called Little Foot, which is made up of bone fragments arranged to show what the individual looked like. There are also skulls from different parts of the world. The exhibit clearly lists origins for many items, such as Neanderthals from the Neander Valley in Germany and skulls from France, Iraq, and Italy. I did not feel that any important information was missing because the exhibit explained where the specimens were from, how old they were, and what role they played in evolution.