The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is the world’s largest natural history museum with 45 exhibition halls and the Hayden Planetarium. It is a lot more than dinosaurs. It is planets, elephants, giant trees, a blue whale, Lucy and lots of stuff you will remember all your life. There are many interactive exhibits too.
Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson famously named Manhattan’s semi-annual solar alignment “Manhattanhenge.”
The Museum is a great place for a first date to see if you want to make some natural history together.
American Museum of Natural History
March 28, 2022
Special Exhibitions
Sharks
Life-sized shark models help us learn how the apex predator keeps the oceans healthy.
Okavango Blue Diamond
The 20.46 carat fancy deep blue diamond is the centerpiece of an exhibition of diamonds from Botswana. 🇧🇼
Worlds Beyond Earth
This film takes you on a journey through space.
Butterfly Conservatory
You basically walk into a butterfly cage where hundreds of tropical butterflies do what butterflies do. It’s very enchanting. Kids never forget this. Through May 30, 2022.
Permanent Exhibitions
The 94-foot Blue Whale model shows how big the largest animal ever known really is.
The 122-foot long Titanosaur from Patagonia, Argentina, is so big, its head sticks out the door. 🇦🇷
Everybody loves Tyrannosaurus rex.
The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Moai Cast represents an interesting intersection between Latin America (Chile) and the Pacific (Indigenous Rapa Nui). DNA studies show that Indigenous South Americans, from what is now Colombia, made it to Polynesia. We don’t know whether they made it there on their own, or were brought back by Pacific seafarers. 🇨🇱
American Museum of Natural History Tickets
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West between 77th & 79th St
Subway
(C) (B) to 81st St – Museum of Natural History
Watch Neil Tyson’s Manhattanhenge Solar Alignment
MANHATTAN 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, and 79th St
Continue Reading Watch Neil Tyson’s Manhattanhenge Solar Alignment
The Argentine Titanosaur
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Upper West Side, NYC
DeColonizing Our Own Heads
Like all New York City museums, the American Museum of Natural History is dealing with its colonial history. So many things we were taught to be proud of as children, turn out to be nothing but colonizer nonsense.
The museum is removing some offending statues and exhibits. It is marking others with explanations about how wrong we were. These are perhaps more interesting because they help us understand how we have been deceived.
Decolonizing takes time, but is worth the effort. We owe it to future generations. Thank you.
Previously
Explore the natural diversity of ¡Cuba!
November 21, 2016 – August 13, 2017
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Upper West Side, NYC
Discover the diverse natural environment of Cuba.