About the Exhibition

Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time, which was on view at the the American Museum of Natural History until January 3, 2010, explored the surprising and often extraordinary world of extinct and living mammals. It featured spectacular fossils and other specimens from the Museum's collections, vivid reconstructions, and live animals. The exhibition examined the ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny, from speedy to sloth-like, and displayed animals with oversized claws, fangs, snouts, and horns.
 
Through the use of dynamic media displays, animated computer interactives, hands-on activities, touchable fossils, casts, taxidermy specimens, and a colony of live sugar gliders--extreme marsupials from Australia--the exhibition highlighted distinctive mammalian qualities and illuminated the shared ancestry that unites these diverse creatures.
 
The exhibition was divided into nine sections--Introduction, What is a Mammal?, What is Extreme?, Head to Tail, Reproduction, Mammals in Motion, Extreme Climates, Extreme Isolation, and Extreme Extinction--and offered extensive detail on the evolutionary history and great family tree of mammals.
 
Entertaining and informative programs for adults, children, and families took place throughout the run of this exhibition and included large-scale events like the Milstein Science Series: Identification Day (June 13, 2009); the unique Extreme Mammals Camp (June 29-July 3, 2009 and August 3-7, 2009); popular live animal presentations such as "Wild, Wild World: Bats" (October 24, 2009); and much more.

Extreme Mammals was organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada; and Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
 
Major funding for Extreme Mammals was provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund.
 
Additional generous support for Extreme Mammals was provided by the Bill and Ann Ziff Foundation, the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund, and Harlan B. Levine, MD and Marshall P. Levine.
 
Extreme Mammals closed on January 3, 2010.

When a nursing baby echidna begins to grow spines, it is time to leave the pouch. But the spiny baby comes back to nurse at its mother’s milk patches for several months.
© AMNH/D. Finnin

Pangolins are nearly covered by scales – only their bellies and throats are bare. Made from keratin, pangolins’ scales protect them from predators’ bites, and those of their own prey – ants and termites.
© AMNH/D. Finnin

A male platypus has a secret weapon: spurs on its hind feet that deliver toxic venom. Males use them against predators or in battles with other males during mating season. They may also use the venom to subdue a female with whom they wish to mate. A strike from a toxic platypus spur can kill a dog.
© AMNH/R. Mickens

Cheetahs are the swiftest of mammals and tree sloths are the slowest, covering about 165 feet in an hour. At the Extreme Mammals Locomotion exhibit, you can explore all of the different ways – fast or slow – that mammals make their way around.
© AMNH/D. Finnin

Tree-dwelling woolly monkeys sometimes walk on the ground on their hind legs, using their prehensile tails as a brace.
© AMNH/R. Mickens

Behind the Scenes