What to See at the American Museum of Natural History

Looking for dinosaurs, whales, ancient cultures and more? The American Museum of Natural History has you covered for this and so much more on your trip to New York City. While its often overshadowed by the extravagant Metropolitan Museum of Art on the other side of Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History is just as massive. Focusing on…you guessed it, natural history, the Museum contains more than 34 million specimens and other artefacts. With a whopping 45 halls, its the largest Natural History Museum in North America (and possibly the world). Its also probably the most famous – having been the setting of the popular Night at the Museum franchise.

There’s so much to see inside, so a quick stop to this Museum can easily turn to a full day experience. With so many things to do in New York, that may not suit your schedule, so it helps to go in with a plan of what exhibits you want to dedicate your time to, while also seeing the highlights. Read on and I’ll tell you all about what you can see at the Museum.

• If you’re headed to New York, you should check out my itinerary post, covering all the city’s major attractions. You can read it HERE.

American Museum of Natural History – The Basics

• Where? 200 Central Park West, New York
• When? The Museum is open 10.00am to 5.30pm daily.
• How much? General Admission to the Museum for adults (13 years and over) costs $28.00 USD. Children 12 and under get in for $16.00 each and those under 3 years of age are free.
• How to get there: The Museum is across the road on the west side of Central Park (it sits between W 77th and W 81st Street). There are several subway stations nearby, with the closest being at 81st Street which is serviced by the B (weekdays only) and C trains. Alternatively, the 1 train stops at W 79th Street and Broadway.
• Website: https://www.amnh.org/

History of the American Museum of Natural…History

The American Museum of Natural History first opened in 1869, after being proposed by Albert Smith Bickmore. Bickmore’s proposal was supported by a number of backers. Perhaps the most notable of those who supported the Museum’s establishment was Theodore Roosevelt Sr, the father of future US president Theodore Roosevelt Jr (whose legacy is memorialised in one of the Museum’s rotunda halls). In the generations since its founding, the Museum has become a beacon for natural science and discourse about the natural world and human cultures. It originally was housed in the New York Arsenal building in Central Park, however it moved to its present Victorian Gothic structure in 1874. Today, the Museum is comprised of an outstanding 45 permanent collection halls housed within 25 interconnected buildings. Suffice to say, its collection has grown exponentially.

Visiting the American Museum of Natural History

As one of New York’s most popular museums (especially with family travellers), the American Museum of Natural History gets packed with visitors. If possible, avoid weekends and you’ll have a slightly less crowded experience. While I didn’t find the crowds as bad when I visited the Met (perhaps they spread out more?), I definitely felt it on my visit to this Museum, especially on the upper floors (that’s where you’ll find the dinosaurs). As with most indoor attractions, if you visit on a rainy day, chances are lots of people are going to have the same idea. I recommend getting to the Museum early and heading up to the top floor and working your way downwards – you’ll be moving in the opposite direction to most of the crowds that way.

You’ll definitely want to (and currently have to) book your tickets in advance. You can do that on the official website, or if you’re visiting a number of attractions on your New York trip, consider using the various multi-attraction passes. The American Museum of Natural History is currently included in both the CityPass and Sightseeing Pass, and both will save you money in the long run. Also, residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut can pay an amount of their own choice to enter the Museum.

Note that as of the time of writing, you need to reserve a timed entry ticket to visit the Museum, and these often sell out on the day. For this reason, its even more important to book tickets in advance. Once you enter the Museum, you can stay for as long as you want, so I’d aim for an early time slot. I assume they’ll do away with this requirement soon enough, but for now, its a hold over from the Museum’s pandemic response.

Finding Your Way Around the American Museum of Natural History

So in case you haven’t got the picture yet, the American Museum of Natural History is HUGE. Seriously, there’s so many different exhibition spaces, and they a cover so many different things. With a focus on the development of the natural world, the Museum provides a comprehensive tour of the evolution of species and wider phenomena. That tour spans across 4 main floors, and each of those floors has a lot to see. Most guests enter at the iconic street entrance onto the second floor. While I made it a mission to see every hall on my visit, to say I did a comprehensive tour of the Museum’s collection would be a lie. I saw the highlights, and I feel thats the best way to experience the Museum for a first time visitor.

Unlike other museums in New York, the American Museum of Natural History doesn’t have an audio guide. It does however run excellent guided tours throughout the day. Some cover specific niches, but the highlights tour is always a safe bet and lasts around 75 minutes. Spots are limited, so you need to sign up at the information desk (which can be found on the first floor’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall).

Its fairly easy to get lost at the Museum. Luckily it has a great (and very interactive) app that you can use for help navigating its halls. You should definitely download it before your visit.

Modern Mammals

• Includes: African Mammals (Levels 2 & 3), North American Mammals (Level 1), Asian Mammals (Level 2), Primates (Level 3)

The Museum contains a number of halls dedicated to mammals from different parts of the world. For the most part, these halls are filled with taxidermic specimens displayed in front of dioramas depicting the natural environments in which those species can be found. Many guests start their tour of the Museum in the Hall of African Mammals, given it is straight ahead from the entrance hall. Centred around a herd of eight African Elephants, the assortment of 28 dioramas in this multi floored chamber cover regions as diverse as the Serengeti and the Nile River.

The centrepiece of Asian Elephants in the Hall of Asian Mammals allows you to draw a comparison to their African counterparts. You’ll notice that they are smaller and have a completely different facial structure. They’re joined by tigers, pandas, leopards and more. Meanwhile the North American Mammals collection displays an assortment of 46 iconic species such as bison, deer and bears. The dioramas in the American Hall are considered to be some of the best in the world.

Upstairs, the Hall of Primates traces the different families of apes and monkeys, as well as the close relation of some of these species to humans.

Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians

• Includes: North American Birds (Level 3), Birds of the World (Level 2), Reptiles & Amphibians (Level 3)

The taxidermic dioramas continue in this next collection of exhibits. In fact, the Hall of American Birds was actually the first space in the world devoted to these kinds of displays. The Hall is filled with a myriad of bird life unique to North America, many of which are endangered to this day. You’ll see the range of environments across the continent, ranging from Alaska’s glaciers to the tropical Bahama cays. Of course, the Bald Eagle with also make an appearance.

The bird exhibition continues with the Birds of the World Hall. I really liked this one as rather than showing one species, the dioramas each depict a different geographical biome and are filled with examples of the birds found there. The diversity of environments cover the penguin inhabited tundra, the tips of the Andes Mountains and the parrot filled Australian bushland.

From there, you’ve got a space dedicated to Reptiles and Amphibians, two distinct vertebrate families that are often studied together, despite reptiles actually being closer related to humans than their amphibious counterparts (the more you know!). Contrast is again the name of the game here, with specimens ranging in size from tiny poison frogs to gigantic crocodiles and Komodo dragons.

Biodiversity

• Includes: Biodiversity (Level 1), Ocean Life (Level 1), North American Forests (Level 1)

The American Museum of Natural History’s exhibits also place a strong focus on the interconnected relationships between species on our planet. Nowhere is this more evident than in the main Hall of Biodiversity. Along the wall of this groundbreaking space is the Spectrum of Life, a collection of 1500 specimens and models of all kinds of organisms, putting the global scope of evolving species on display for all to see. The hall is also known for hosting a walk through diorama, crafted to immerse visitors on a trip to an African rainforest, with recreations of 160 flora and fauna species.

The Hall of North American Forests continues this theme of biodiversity, but restricts it to the North American landmass. There’s numerous dioramas here as in the previous animal halls, though the highlight is a sliced sequoia tree trunk, thought to be over 1400 years old. It showcases the size and longevity of this hugely significant source of forest habitats.

Speaking of large, you can’t get much bigger than the Blue Whale! A 21,000 pound model of the largest placental mammal known to live on earth floats above the Hall of Ocean Life. In the Hall below, you’ll find more dioramas, this time depicting the immense plethora of life beneath the waves. More than 750 sea creatures are displayed in habitats as varied as coral reefs and polar seas.

Fossils

• Includes: Vertebrate Origins (Level 4), Saurischian Dinosaurs (Level 4), Ornithischian Dinosaurs (Level 4), Primitive Mammals (Level 4), Advanced Mammals (Level 4)

The fourth floor of the American Museum of Natural History is almost completely dedicated to the dinosaurs and other creatures that roamed our planet during the Prehistoric period. They’re also among the most crowded halls of the Museum (after all, who doesn’t want to see dinosaurs?). The fossils in the dinosaur halls are divided up into two broad classifications. Ornithischian Dinosaurs are characterised by their backwards pointing pubis bone, providing support to their massive frames. Think stegosaurus, triceratops and more. Meanwhile the Saurischian Dinosaurs developed from ancestors with grasping hands, including your Tyrannosaurs and other predators, as well as the beloved Apatosaurus (formerly known as the Brontosaurus).

Following the era of the dinosaurs was the age of the megafauna. The Hall of Advanced Mammals contains skeletons and fossils of mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers and the other extinct species of mammals that roamed until 10,000 years ago. The nearby Primitive Mammals hall focuses on the evolution of smaller species, with the evolutionary lineages of marsupials, monotremes, sloths and more, with key traits such as skull shape and jaws being explored.

Finally, the Hall of Vertebrate Origins goes back even further in time, focusing on the evolution of life from the jawless fish that had backbones, which over time developed adaptations to expand from the sea to land some 360 million years ago. At over 250 fossil specimens, there’s representations of almost every group of vertebrate life here.

Human Origins and World Cultures

• Includes: Human Origins (Level 1), Northwest Coast Indians (Level 1), Eastern Woodlands Indians (Level 3), Plains Indians (Level 3), Pacific Peoples (Level 3), Asian Peoples (Level 2), African Peoples (Level 2), Mexico & Central America (Level 2), South American Peoples (Level 2)

You can’t talk about the history of the earth without mentioning humans, and the American Museum of Natural History contains quite a few halls dedicated to the development of human life, and also exploring differing cultural developments throughout time and place. The natural starting point is the Hall of Human Origins. This space is about the evolution of homo sapiens from other human relatives. One of the most significant specimens in telling this story is the reconstruction of “Lucy”, one of the most complete skeletons ever found of an early ancestor that lived between 4 to 2 million years ago.

From there, you can branch out into the countless anthropological halls. If you’re wanting to dig into Native American culture, there’s halls dedicated to various groups. You can see the iconic totem poles that First Nation peoples of the Northwest Coast are known for. Meanwhile the Central Plains and Eastern Woodlands Indians shine a light on the elaborate coats and outfits of nations such as the Sioux, Dakota, Iroquois and many more.

Further south, you’ll venture into Mesoamerica and the civilisations of the Aztec and Maya, as well as other pre-Hispanic peoples of Mexico and Central America. There’s a huge Olmec Head and Aztec Sunstone among other artefacts on display. You’ve also got the Incan and other Andean groups, along with the people of the Amazon, all represented in the adjoining South American Hall.

The continents of Asia and Africa are also covered in their own anthropological exhibits. In Africa you’ll learn about lifestyles and cultures as varied from the Berbers of the arid north to Bantu groups in the southeast. Likewise, the Asian Hall (actually the largest of the Museum’s cultural displays) runs the gambit from East Asia to the Caucus Region, providing insights into traditional customs and religious ceremonies of various cultures.

Finally, head to the the South Pacific, with displays focusing on cultures such as the Maori and the various islanders of Polynesia, all of which heavily intertwine their beliefs with basic needs and traditional skills. Arguably the most photographed item in this hall is the massive cast of Rapa Nui, the moai ancestor being from Easter Island.

Earth and Space

• Includes: Rose Center for Earth & Space (Levels 1, 2 & Basement), Meteorites (Level 1), Gems & Minerals (Level 1)

Having covered the myriad of life that has and does call Earth home, the Museum’s last assortment of halls explore the makeup of our planet, along with its place in the wider universe. Starting with the planet itself, the Halls of Gems and Minerals display over 5000 specimens from across the globe. You’ll learn about how they are classified, as well as their various uses. The Hall of Meteorites was closed when I visited the Museum, but it goes even further, with mineralised specimens that originated away from our planet. Over 580 meteorites are displayed, including the largest one on display in any museum (weighing in at 34 tons and landing in Greenland many thousands of years ago).

Then, you’ve got the Rose Center for Earth & Space. This is basically a mini-space museum within the Museum itself, and I really wish I had more time to spend here – I only managed to pass through briefly. The Rose Center opened in 2000 and is centred around a gigantic globe, which houses the Hayden Planetarium. One of the most advanced of its kind in the world, it runs mesmerising virtual tours of the universe every half hour. Around the globe, you’ve got the Cosmic Pathway, which traces the (13 billion year) history of the universe, and the Scales of the Universe, which put the size of galactic masses into comprehendible terms. Finally, you’ve got interactive and immersive exhibits underneath the globe that cover the various phenomena that occur on Earth, throughout the galaxy and beyond.

Visiting the American Museum of Natural History is like stepping into an immersive encyclopaedia. As this post has conveyed, the only issue is working out just how to see as much of it as possible on a short trip. I truly believe you could come to the Museum for a year and learn something new each day. As one of the best natural history museums in the world, you shouldn’t miss a chance to see even a small part of it on your trip to New York. Hopefully this post has helped you decide which parts of the Museum you’ll be most interested in seeing. I’d love to hear which parts of the Museum appeal the most to you – let me know!