The American Museum of Natural History Announces New Exhibition Dinosaurs Among Us

Oviraptorosaur
Illustration by Zhao Chuang; Courtesy of Peking Natural Science Organization

Dinosaurs Among Us will examine how one group of dinosaurs evolved into the fascinating living creatures we call birds. The exhibition will highlight the continuities between living dinosaurs—birds—and their extinct ancestors, showcasing remarkable new evidence for what scientists now call one of the best-documented evolutionary transitions in the history of life.

Dinosaurs Among Us will explore topics ranging from flight to feathers, nests to wishbones, and brains to lungs. The exhibition will feature ancient, rarely seen fossils, and life-like models, including a 23-foot-long feathered tyrannosaur (Yutyrannus huali) and a small four-winged dromeosaur (Anchiornis huxleyi) with a 22-inch wingspan and vivid, patterned plumage. Visitors will encounter a tiny dinosaur whose sleeping posture precisely echoes that of a living bird, an extinct-dinosaur nest containing remains of the adult that guarded the hatchlings, and the fossil cast of a relative of Triceratops that had simple feathers on its body.

The exhibition, which comes on the heels of the unveiling of a 122-foot-long titanosaur cast on permanent display in the Museum’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center, is part of a series of events, public programs, exhibitions, and digital offerings highlighting dramatic developments in paleontology.

Dinosaurs Among Usis curated by Mark Norell, Macaulay Curator in the Division of Paleontology and the division’s chair. The exhibition will be open to the public from Monday, March 21, 2016, to January 2, 2017. Members will be able to preview the exhibition on Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20.

The Museum gratefully acknowledges theRichard and Karen LeFrak Exhibition and Education Fund.

Dinosaurs Among Us is proudly supported by Chase Private Client.