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OFFICIAL GUIDE

IMAGES FROM AROUND THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

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AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

ince 1869, the American Museum of Natural History has been an international leader in scientific
investigation. Sponsor of thousands of field studies and expeditions, home to more than 30
million specimens and artifacts, and a center renowned for original research, the Museum
affirms its commitment to exploration of the natural world. Each year, three million visitors are
drawn to the Museum’s permanent halls, special exhibitions, and educational programs. Yet
less than two percent of the collection is on public display. The rest is stored in scientific
departments throughout the Museum’s 23-building complex, providing the raw data used to
develop and test theories about the Earth and its life. Museum scientists—including the 40
curators who make up the core of a staff of 200 investigators, technicians, doctoral

bs Seaastudents, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates—are dedicated to
understanding and preserving biological and cultural diversity. They focus on

fundamental issues that concern us all:

¢ the evolution of the human species and of human culture

* past and present extinctions of plant and animal species

* patterns of social and biological adaptation
* processes that shape the Earth and provide the environmental

framework for the evolution of life

Although much of the Earth has been traveled and examined,
countless mysteries remain unsolved. The explorers

of the next millennium will be the scientists

who track ancient civilizations, piece together

the events that shaped the continents,

plot the course of evolution,

and discover new organisms

and habitats.

he Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites contains 125 meteorites,
including the largest on display in the world—a 34-ton
fragment of the Cape York (Greenland) Meteorite, brought
to New York by the explorer Robert E. Peary in 1897.
Meteorites are pieces of asteroids and comets that broke

off from their parent bodies and collided with Earth. The

exhibit provides examples of every type, telling where they
came from, what happened to them during their passage to Earth, and
what they are made of. Samples of Moon rock from the Apollo 14, 16, and
17 missions are also on display. Meteorites provide insight into the origin
and history of the Earth and other planets in the solar system. Scientists
believe the Moon was formed more than four billion years ago as a result
of a collision between the Earth and a smaller, Mars-size planet. A large
meteorite impacted Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago,

causing the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species.

The 16-ton Willamette (Oregon) Meteonte arrived at the
Museum in 1907. Consisting entirely of iron, it is the largest
meteorite ever discovered in the United States.

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two-ton block of copper ore exemplifies both the beauty and
value of minerals. It was cut from Arizona’s Copper Queen
Mine for its potential yield of 2,000 pounds of pure copper—
but was saved for the radiance of its green malachite and
blue azurite. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Minerals

presents the Earth’s inorganic foundation in the form of

minerals and their crystals, which are mined to create many
of the products we use. Fluorite, for example, yields the fluorine incorpo-
rated in fluoride toothpastes as well as in the non-stick coating on some
cookware. Plaster of Paris, named for the mines under the city of Paris, is
made from gypsum. Gems are attractive, rare minerals, often used for
personal adornment. In addition to having beauty, the ideal gem needs to
be hard and durable, to withstand wear and tear. Nearly 2,000 gems and
carvings are displayed in the John Pierpoint Morgan Hall of Gems. Its
treasure chest of stones includes the 100-carat DeLong Star Ruby and the

reddish orange 100-carat Padparadschah Sapphire.

The 563-carat Star of India was mined four centuries ago in
Sri Lanka. It is the largest known fine-quality star sapphire.

BIOLOGY OF INVERTEBRATES

ne of the giant squid’s longer tentacles could wrap around
an average human waist about ten times. An inhabitant of
the ocean depths, the giant

squid is one of more than one

= The Hall of the Biology
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is devoted to this diverse eT wih Hi £2

category, which includes worms, spiders, crabs, mollusks, starfish, andthe

ll largest group, insects. Among the insects are the beetles known

as fireflies; one display shows how they flash their

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to locate mates. Another exhibit , |
describes the crabs, clams, tube worms, and
other animals that live near geothermal springs
on the floor of the Pacific

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Elsewhere, a model 75
times natural size replicates a male
Anopheles mosquito (the females, which
bite, are responsible for transmitting the
disease malaria). Microscopic, single-celled
creatures are represented 1,000 times natu-
ral size by delicate, blown-glass models,
created decades ago by Hermann O.
Mueller. Invertebrates are also featured in
a separate hall, Mollusks and Our World.
Near the Museum's Southwestern Research Station in Arizona,

entomologist Jerome Rozen searches for the nest of Conanthalictus,
a tiny, solitary bee that lives in the ground.

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he largest living creature on Earth, the blue whale has been
hunted to near extinction. The Museum’s 94-foot-long
model, made of steel, fiberglass, and polyurethane, is a
replica of a female blue whale that may have weighed in at
150 tons. Beneath the blue whale, the Hall of Ocean Life

contains a series of dioramas portraying major ocean envi-

ronments, including a sperm whale seizing a giant squid and
walruses congregating in the Bering Sea. The upper gallery, Biology of
Fishes, begins with a survey of how fishes meet the basic requirements
of living in water—finding food, avoiding predators, and reproducing.

A display of more than 400 models represents the major families of
marine and freshwater fishes. Among the popular attractions are
the various species of sharks, whose teeth have distinctive
shapes. Nurse sharks have flat teeth for grinding the shells of
crustaceans, while thresher sharks use their spikelike teeth
for piercing and holding small fish. The serrated blades of
the great white shark’s teeth are effective for cutting

through fleshy tuna and sea lions.

PACIFIC BIRD LIFE

eabirds fly to and from their nests on guano islands in the
eastern Pacific, near the coast of Peru. Other dioramas inthe
Whitney Memorial Hall of Pacific Bird Life include honey
creepers on Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands, and a reconstruc-

tion of a moa, an extinct, ostrichlike bird whose bones have

been found on New Zealand. All the locales were faithfully
recreated by curators, designers, and artists, based on field
observations, sketches, photographs, and specimen collection. Overhead,
a sky-dome unites the hall with seabirds in flight, including species that
range from the Antarctic to the tropics. Bathing the shores of five
continents, the Pacific Ocean is dotted with thousands of islands, including
those of Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia. The Museum’s Whitney
South Sea Expedition, which visited hundreds of these islands in the 1920s
and 1930s, not only obtained many specimens for the hall but also
determined much of what we know about bird distribution and evolution

in the region.

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ounted in a free-standing, active pose, the adult Barosaurus
reconstruction was largely cast from a skeleton in the
Museums collection. The plant-eating reptile rears up 50
feet into the air to protect its baby, behind it, from a
predatory Allosaurus. Coulda gigantic <reature withsolong
a neck have actually stood on its hind legs? We cannot be
sure, because Barosaurus became extinct about 150 million
years ago. But some experts believe that it could have reared up to feed
in tall trees or to defend itself. The Barosaurus’s home within the Museum
is the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, dedicated to the 26th president
of the United States. Roosevelt, whose father was a founding trustee of
the Museum, was nicknamed the “conservation president” because of
his devotion to preserving the natural environment. He doubled the
number of national parks, created the first federal bird and game reserves,
increased the number of national forests, and declared eighteen natural
wonders to be national monuments—among them Arizona’s Grand

Canyon and Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower.

yrannosaurus means “tyrant lizard.” With dozens of saber-
like teeth, some the size of a human hand, this creature
posed a real threat to its contemporaries. A major project is
underway to renovate and expand all the Museum’s perma-
nent exhibition halls dedicated to dinosaurs, prehistoric

mammals, and other fossil vertebrates. Tyrannosaurus will

be exhibited with Apatosaurus and other saurischians, one
of the two large groups of dinosaurs recognized by scientists. Ornithis-
chian dinosaurs, including Triceratops and Stegosaurus, will be featured
in a separate hall. A special exhibition, “Work in Progress: Drawing Board
to Dinosaurs,” has been created for Gallery 77, onthe Museum's first floor,
so visitors can preview the new fourth-floor halls. Architectural drawings
and scale models are accompanied by a selection of fossils from the
Museum’s unparalleled collection. Gallery 77 also contains a prototype of
an interactive computer system, which is being designed to inform

museum-goers of the latest in evolutionary research.

Paleontologist Mark Norell hunts for dinosaur fossils during the Museum’s 1991 expedition to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

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he king cobra, the largest of all venomous snakes, prepares
to defend its nest of eggs, while in the background an Indian
python keeps its eggs warm by using periodic muscular
contractions to raise its own body temperature. These
snakes, both found in Southeast Asia, are among the few
reptiles that provide parental care. Snakes, lizards, turtles,
and other reptiles occupy one side of the Hall of Reptiles and
Amphibians, while frogs, toads, salamanders, and other amphibians
occupy the other side. In the center is the Galapagos tortoise, a native of
an island far off the coast of Ecuador. Amphibians and reptiles are cold-
blooded, which means their body temperatures are not constant but
reflect the temperatures of their environments. Most lay eggs, either on
land or in the water. From a frog’s egg comes an aquatic larva—a
tadpole—which develops into a four-legged adult. The egg of a python

yields a fully formed snake about a foot long.

ebras and other animals converge on a water hole in arid
lands south of Kenya’s Guaso Nyiro River. The dioramas in
the Akeley Memorial African Hall show animals as they
live—or lived—in the diverse environments of that conti-
nent, from the rain forests to the deserts, from the
mountains to the grasslands. Carl Akeley sought to create
exhibits that “would tell the story of jungle peace; a story
that is sincere and faithful to the Africa beasts as | have known them.”
A taxidermist and sculptor, Akeley not only collected animal skins and
bones but measured the specimens in the field, making casts of the faces
and other parts of the flesh. Back at the Museum, he used clay to recreate
the animals in lifelike poses. Light, hollow copies were then cast from
these models, and the skins stretched over them. Many of the animals
he admired, such as the mountain gorillas, are now threatened with

extinction because of the encroachment of human populations.

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ound in Sri Lanka, parts of the Indian subcontinent, and
Southeast Asia, the Indian elephant can be trained to work
and perform for humans. Other animals in the Hall of South
Asiatic Mammals include lions, tigers, Indian and Sumatran
rhinoceroses, Asiatic leopards, and several kinds of deer

and antelope. One diorama provides a treetop view of a

group of gibbons; in another, a pack of wild dogs attack a
sambar, a large deer. The water buffalo, widely domesticated for use as a
draft animal as well as for its milk, meat, and hide, is also featured. The

hall was opened in 1930, when the threat to these species’ natural

‘ habitats was already becoming apparent. Today, many are protected
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ue them on the brink of extinction. Lions, for example, which today are
f: virtually extinct outside of Africa, ranged in historic times from the
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MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA

ntil European settlers hunted them to near extinction, at
least 60 million American bison, or buffalo, inhabited the
Great Plains. Also roaming parts of the North American
continent were jaguars, mountain lions, goats, sheep, and
bears. Most are now a rare sight. Jaguars, for example,

essentially extinct in the continental United States, were

present in parts of the southwest until this century (and
even in the southeast in early colonial times). The Hall of Mammals of
North America and its adjoining corridors also feature smaller animals—
ferret, badger, kit fox, flying squirrel, weasel, and a recent migrant
from South America, the armadillo. Earlier this century, Museum
collectors undertook more than two dozen cross-country expeditions
to acquire the specimens, while artists drew from panoramic views of
national parks to recreate the settings. In one of the dioramas, a
mountain lion gazes out over the Grand Canyon. A separate, small
display, Mammals of New York State, is found elsewhere in the

Museum.

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he Mark Twain Tree, a California sequoia, stood more than
300 feet tall when it was cut down by loggers in 1891. By
counting its annual growth rings, we can tell it lived for 1,342
years. The Hall of North American Forests chronicles nine
distinct vegetation zones: Olympic Rain, Giant Cactus,
Southeastern Coastal Plain, Pinyon-Juniper, Oak-Hickory,
Jeffrey Pine, Northern Spruce-Fir, Mixed Deciduous Forest,
and Timberline in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Dioramas include
cactuses in Arizona’s Saguaro National Monument, Sitka spruce and
Douglas fir in Washington’s Quinault Natural Area, and tulip tree and
sweet buckeye in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
One diorama enlarges a tiny portion of the forest floor 24 times life size,
startling visitors with its giant millipede, earthworm, daddy-longlegs,
carpenter ant, and other creatures. The environment of New York State’s

Dutchess County is explored in the adjacent Felix M. Warburg Memorial

Museum ornithologist George Barrowclough holds a young
spotted owl captured in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern
California. It will be banded for identification and then released.

BIRDS OF THE WORLD

* n Andean condor, a scavenger that lives in South America,

3 soars near Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the

. Western Hemisphere. The other New World settings in the

Hall of Birds of the World are the dense tropical forest of

Panama, the marshes of the Argentine Pampas, and the

treeless tundra of Canada. Africa is represented by the

tropical forest of Zaire, featuring a mixed flock of insect-

eating birds, and the open plains of Kenya, where weaver birds nest in a
thorny acacia. European and Asian birds include bustards, cranes, and
sandgrouse in the Gobi desert, nutcrackers in the Alps, and a tawny owl
in an English beech forest. King penguins inhabit South Georgia, an
island in the South Atlantic Ocean. A pair of copper pheasants court with
Japan’s Mount Fuji in the background, while Australia’s eucalyptus
woodland includes a superb lyrebird and crimson rosellas. Other halls
in the Museum featuring birds are the Hall of the Biology of Birds,
the Whitney Memorial Hall of Pacific Bird Life, Birds of the New York

City Area, and the Hall of North American Birds.

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cutaway model of a longhouse shows Iroquois women
cooking corn bread. Inhabited by several families related
through females, the longhouse and its furnishings be-
longed to the resident women. Most of the native peoples
living in the generally wooded region between the Missis-
sippi River and the Atlantic Ocean farmed long before the
arrival of Europeans. They dwelled in permanent villages
andtowns, the largest of which—Cahokia, Illinois—had an estimated
population of 20,000 in A.D. 1150. Some Eastern Woodlands Indians
were known for their powerful confederacies, which were politically adept
and strong in war. The confederacies maintained their power for some
time after the arrival of Europeans, occasionally by allying themselves
with the French or English, and later with the colonial revolutionaries
fighting for control of the country. The most famous confederacy was the
League of the Five Nations, which, in about 1570, united the Iroquois tribes
of upstate New York. These were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,

Cayuga, and Seneca.

umans are vertebrates—animals with backbones—a point
museum-goers will learn along with the skeletal family, as
they watch a videotape detailing how the skeleton and
muscles function. The diorama is part of the Museum’s
new permanent Hall of Human Biology and Evolution,
which explores humanity’s place in nature by examining

what we have in common with other living things and

how we acquired our unique characteristics. The hall begins with a
discussion of DNA—the molecule of!ife—and continues with displays
on the vertebrate and mammalian body systems, primate evolution, and
human evolution, to the earliest archeological evidence of human artistic
creativity. Fossils show us how our precursors evolved and how and
when modern human anatomy arose. One diorama recreates the

moment three and one-half million years ago when two members of the a” .

species Australopithecus afarensis left the humanlike footprints dis-
covered at Laetoli, Tanzania. A replica of 17,000-year-old cave art from
France provides a glimpse of the emergence of the human spirit. Else-
where in the Museum, the Hall of Primates provides a look at our nearest

living relatives.

Preparator Cathy Leone airbrushes the skin tone of a female
Neanderthal for the Museum’s new hall.

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efore they acquired horses, Plains Indians hunted buffalo
on foot, frightening them over the edge of a cliff. Renowned
as brave warriors and daring hunters, the Plains Indians
have come to symbolize the American Frontier. A grassland
in the heart of North America, the Great Plains extend from

Canada to Texas and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky

Mountains. The immense herds of buffalo that once grazed
the region provided food, tipi covers, robes, and other necessities for
some thirty nomadic and seminomadic tribes. Following the introduction
of the horse by the Spaniards, the hunting culture of the Plains reached its
peak in the early nineteenth century. The Indians’ independent economic
and political life was undermined, however, as thousands of hunters,
settlers, and prospectors poured into the Plains, driving the buffalo almost
to extinction. The government forced the Indians onto reservations
where, despite great hardship, they preserved many traditions while

adapting their lives to European American culture.

cedar dugout canoe carries a Chilkat chief of southern Alaska
and his companions to a potlatch feast. The 63-foot-long
canoe, carved about 1878 by Haida Indians in British
Columbia, is the centerpiece of the Museum’s 77th Street
lobby, which also features a totem pole carved by Kwakiutl

artist Richard Hunt in 1992. The Hall of Northwest Coast

Indians, which adjoins the lobby, is lined with two rows of
towering nineteenth-century totem poles and house posts; beyond is
the Hall of Eskimos. Before the arrival of Europeans, at least 28 native
peoples lived along the rugged seacoast from northern California to
southern Alaska, harvesting shellfish, sea mammals, and fish, including
the salmon that fought their way up the region’s rivers to spawn. From
the rot-resistant wood of cedar trees, the Indians made spacious houses,
sturdy seagoing canoes, totem poles, ceremonial masks, and household
utensils. The inner bark was fashioned into mats, bags, and clothing,

while roots were woven into decorated baskets.

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To increase access to the Museum's artifacts while diminishing
their handling, a data-base system is being developed which allows
researchers to call up a description and image of each object, such
as this Tlingit mask.

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he Aztec Stone of the Sun symbolizes beliefs of the Aztecs
concerning the creation and destruction of the world during
successive ages. Among its many elements is the Sun God,
in the center, ringed by the twenty day signs used in the
Aztec’s 260-day ritual calendar. The original monument,
from which the Museum’s reproduction was cast, weighs
twenty tons. The Aztec civilization of central Mexico,
conquered by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, is one of the
indigenous civilizations chronicled in the Hall of Mexico and Central
America. The Olmec, who flourished in Central America from 1200 to 400
B.C., favored jade for making tools and ceremonial objects, among them
representations of the Were-Jaguar, which merges a human figure with

the face of a jaguar. On a more massive scale is the colossal Olmec head,

reproduced at the Museum from the stone original. Polished jade jewelry,
ceramic figurines, carved stone monuments, and scale models of pyramids

illustrate the Maya civilization, which was at its height from A.D. 250 to 900.

he Amahuaca bow hunter, an inhabitant of the Amazon
Basin, knows how best to track his prey, even the call that ‘
will lure it closer. The Hall of South American Peoples reveals
a continent where human culture was established at least
11,000 years ago. From the high Andes west to the coastal

deserts and east to the Amazon Basin, the land is diverse in

topography and resources. Archeological artifacts from the
Inka and other past civilizations include ceramics, textiles, and objects of
gold and silver. Other artifacts document the peoples of the Amazon Basin.
The basin’s rivers provide fish and transportation, while the forest provides
wild plant and animal foods. Manioc, maize, and other crops are also
cultivated, using the slash-and-burn technique of clearing plots of forest
land. The exhibits illustrate the culture of Amazonian peoples before
it was modified by European contact. Many groups still survive, but their

habitat is rapidly being destroyed.

An alpaca and a llama of soldered sheet silver were created in the
region of Lake Titicaca five centuries ago. The cinnabar and gold
inlay on the llama represents the red blanket of the Inka royal llama.

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ressed to inspire fear, a Bira priest from Zaire leads the
initiation ceremony in which boys advance to manhood. His
raffia armbands represent a mythical bird, and his painted
spots symbolize the leopard—both considered tribal spirits.
The Hall of African Peoples details how indigenous

populations adapted to the continent's deserts, temperate

river valleys, vast grasslands, and tropical forests. Before
the era of European colonization, Africans lived in many kinds of societies,
from powerful kingdoms that operated wide trading networks to small
groups that farmed, herded cattle, or obtained the necessities of life by
hunting animals and gathering plants. In all these communities, people
created art, including decorated household objects, musical instruments,
and costumes. Many works of art had religious significance, and were
used in ceremonies to appease dangerous forces and to honor helpful
spirits, leaders, and ancestors. When Africans first came to the
Americas—most brought over as slaves—they carried their knowledge
and memories with them, and many aspects of their culture took

root and developed in the New World.

s part of a wedding ceremony heldinasmall village in central '
India, the village barber guides the bride and groom as they
circle the sacred fire seven times. The Gardner D. Stout Hall
of Asian Peoples embraces an immense range of traditional
cultures, from the Semai hunters of the Malaysian rain forest

to the Chukchi reindeer herders of the frozen Siberian steppe.

High in the Himalayas, Tibetans blended their ancient reli- é : ‘
gion with Buddhism and created a distinctive form of religious paintings , eS Se nae
called tangka, while the Japanese expressed other Buddhist ideas in their og
Noh drama. Asia is the site of the world’s earliest civilizations—in
Mesopotamia, India, and China—societies ruled from central cities, which

in ancient times were also ritual centers. Systems of writing, devised to

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enhance the work of priests and administrators, furthered the spread of
the major religions and philosophies that arose in Asia, including

Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

At the American Museum of Natural History, refugee Tibetan monks
from the Drepung Loseling monastery in India demonstrated how they
fashion dolls dressed in traditional costumes.

gigantic head is one of 250 such statues carved and erected
on Easter Island in prehistoric times. The Museum’s
reproduction was cast from the original, which consists of
hardened lava. The Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples is
the legacy of the life work of anthropologist Margaret Mead,

who conducted field research and collected artifacts from

three of the island regions of the Pacific—Indonesia,
Melanesia, and Polynesia. She investigated adolescence in Samoa,
childhood and rapid culture change in the Admiralty Islands, gender roles
in New Guinea, and Balinese character. Mead used her knowledge of other
cultures to illuminate the nature and problems of industrial, Western
society. Artifacts in the hall include feather cloaks from Hawaii, spirit
masks from New Guinea, coconut-fiber armor from Kiribati in Micronesia,
Australian boomerangs, batik cloth and shadow puppets from Indonesia,
a bolo knife from the Philippines, and a Maori chief's carved storehouse

from New Zealand.

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Margaret Mead, who worked in the Anthropology Department
at the Museum from 1926 until her death in 1978, visited
with friends on a 1957 field trip to Bali.

hrough the ages, the night sky has been linked with
romance, mystery, and power. Established more than fifty
years ago, the Hayden Planetarium strips away some of the
myth and superstition concerning the universe without
taking away any of its magic. The Planetarium Sky Theater
simulates the night sky on a 75-foot-diameter dome. The

ae a | “star” of the show is the Zeiss VI Star Projector, controlled
by one of the largest planetarium computer automation systems in the
world. With an array of special-effect, video, and laser projectors, it takes
visitors on a journey through outer space, while an 11,000-watt
multichannel sound system provides music, dialogue, and sound effects.
The Guggenheim Space Theater on the Planetarium’s first floor features a
48-foot model of the solar system. Visitors can also view the rings of
Saturn, the Aurora Borealis, a solar eclipse, and other spectacles in the
Biack Light Gallery, decorated with giant astronomical murals, or tip

the scales to find out their weight on other planets.

The Museum has an ongoing program of special exhibitions, IMAX films
in the NatureMax theater, lectures, and other educational programs.
Gallery 3 recently featured Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast,
an exhibition created at the Museum and now on tour. Other facilities
include restaurants, shops, and the largest natural history research library
in the Western Hemisphere. Illustrated directories are posted near the
entrances and elevators, while free printed floor plans as well as the signs
throughout the Museum are designed to help visitors find their way. Free
tours of Museum highlights are also provided, guided by volunteers.
Members of the American Museum of Natural History enjoy many addi-
tional benefits, including free admission and a subscription to the monthly
magazine Natural History. For further information, write to the Member-
ship Office, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at

79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, or telephone 1-800-234-5252.

Many individuals on the staff of the American Museum of Natural History contributed to
the preparation of this guide. Among them are: George Barrowclough, Jacklyn Beckett,
Robert Carneiro, Craig Chesek, Carmen Collazo, John Davey, Lowell Dingus, William
Emerson, Denis Finnin, Stanley Freed, Ellen Goldensohn, William Gutsch, George Harlow,
Sidney Horenstein, Jonna Hunter, Aldona Jonaitis, Charles Kanarick, Margaret Karns,
Laurel Kendall, Neil Landman, Mary LeCroy, Ross MacPhee, Barbara Mathe, Thomas Miller,
Craig Morris, Mark Norell, Norman Platnick, Martin Prinz, Jerome Rozen, Abraham
Rosman, Paula Rubel, Lavett Smith, Lisa Stillman, lan Tattersall, Samuel Taylor, Martin

Tekulsky, William Weinstein

Photography: CoverCopyright ©1991 Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. Hall Photography
Grant Le Duc 1, 4,5,8, 16, 17,21, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36,37, 40, 41,45; Mark Levit 20; Special

Photo Collections American Museum of Natural History 9, 12, 13, 24, 44; Brian Sullivan 48.

Insets Fred Conrad 15; Jason Goltz 31; David Grimaldi 50; R.J. Guiterrez 26; Ken Heyman
46; Barbara Rozen 7; Peter Siegel 35; Special Photo Collection, American Museum of
Natural History 3, 27, 43; John Bigalow Taylor 39; Erica & Harold Van Pelt 6.

Vittorio Maestro, Editor / Scarlett Lovell, Publications Manager / Mark Abraham,
Production Director / L. Thomas Kelly, Publisher / William T. Golden, Chairman, Board of
Trustees / George D. Langdon, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer.

©1993, American Museum of Natural History

Color separations by Graphics International, Bayonne, New Jersey.
Printed on 80 Ib. and 60 Ib. S.D. Warren Somerset Gloss paper.

Printed by Ringier America, Jonesboro, Arkansas Division.

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MUSEUM EXHIBITION HALLS

Advanced Mammals (to open in April 1994)

Early Mammals (to open in April 1994)

Orientation and Family Learning Center (to open in early 1996)
Ornithischian Dinosaurs (to open in April 1995)

Primitive Vertebrates (to open in early 1996)

Saurischian Dinosaurs (to open in April 1995)

Akeley Memorial African Hall (African Mammals)
Birds of the New York City Area

Eastern Woodlands and Plains Indians

Gallery 3

Mammals of New York State

North American Birds

Pacific Peoples

Primates

Reptiles and Amphibians

African Peoples

Akeley Gallery

Akeley Memorial African Hall (African Mammals)
Asian Peoples

Birds of the World

Mexico and Central America

Pacific Bird Life

South American Peoples

South Asiatic Mammals

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall (Barosaurus)

Biology of Birds

Biology of Invertebrates

Eskimos

Felix M. Warburg Memorial Hall (New York State Environment)
Gallery 77: Drawing Board to Dinosaurs
Hayden Planetarium

Human Biology and Evolution
Mammals of North America

Meteorites

Minerals and Gems

Mollusks and Our World

North American Forests

Northwest Coast Indians

Ocean Life and Biology of Fishes

77th Street Lobby (Haida Canoe)

A termite ts preserved in a 30-million-year-old piece of amber, or fossil sap. A team of researchers at the
Museum’s new Molecular Systematics Laboratory have extracted DNA from the remains of the termite—
the oldest DNA ever recovered—casting new light on insect evolution.

~ |American
~ |Museum of