Where: Natural History Museum
When: closing September 29, 2019
True confession: I've not yet been to the new Fossil Hall at the Natural History Museum; I go to see things that have impending closing dates, and presumably the new hall will be with us for quite some time. Maybe that's something my niece and I could go see when she has a day off from school...
I did get to see some dinosaurs at Natural History this week though. The exhibit that served as a "dinosaur place holder" while the new Hall was under construction is now closing, so I went to see that. Called "The Last American Dinosaur," it's quite well done. It provides lots of information, presented in an easy-to-understand style. I especially liked the explanation of the difference between an actual fossil, a scientifically accurate cast, and a fake.
I also enjoyed the information about the digs that yield the fossils and the way that scientists preserve what they find and transport it back to the museum. The Hell Creek Formation, which covers parts of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, is full of fossils - sort of a paleontologist's playground. It's a lot of work to travel out there, find useful specimens, wrap them up so they don't get damaged and get everything and everyone back to DC.
The exhibit also included information on the 5th great extinction - the one that killed the dinosaurs. An asteroid hit the earth, which set off a chain reaction of terrible events that resulted in the death of all non-avian dinosaurs. So, every time you see a bird, you're actually seeing a dinosaur. And mass extinctions are bad for the species that die off, obviously, but they're good for new species that can arise from the ashes. Like mammals.
Verdict: The new fossil hall is getting all the press, but this exhibit is worth a look. And I really wish the museum would have returned to the original name for the dinosaur display: the Hall of Extinct Monsters.
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