The Dinosaurs on Display

D. Finnin/© AMNH
The fourth floor halls of the Museum feature approximately 100 dinosaur specimens, a tiny fraction of the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world.
The Titanosaur's head extends out of the Wallach Orientation Center's entrance, looming over approaching visitors.
The Titanosaur grazes the Wallach Orientation Center's approximately 19-foot-high ceilings, and, at 122 feet, is just a bit too long for its new home. Instead, its neck and head extend out towards the elevator banks, welcoming visitors to the “dinosaur” floor. 
D. Finnin/© AMNH

Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center introduces visitors to key concepts presented in the Museum’s fourth-floor fossil halls, which display 600 fossil specimens—including more than 250 mammal fossil specimens and approximately 100 dinosaur fossil specimens. Eighty-five percent of specimens are actual fossils, as opposed to casts or reproductions. It is also home to The Titanosaur, the life-sized cast of a 122-foot-long sauropod dinosaur Patagotitan mayorum discovered in 2014.

The Organization of the Dinosaur Halls

Dinosaur Cladogram

The Museum’s dinosaur exhibits are organized to reflect evolutionary relationships, and a walk through the exhibition halls is like a walk along the trunk, branches, and twigs of the evolutionary tree for dinosaurs.

A thick black line on the floor, which starts in this hall and continues through the Hall of Vertebrate Origins, the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs, the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs, the Hall of Primitive Mammals, and the Hall of Advanced Mammals, denotes the “trunk” of this tree.

Branching points along the main path that represent the evolution of new anatomical features, such as the hole in the center of the hip socket. At each branching point, visitors can walk off the main path to explore alcoves containing a group of closely related dinosaurs.

Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs

The ornithischians were an extremely diverse group of plant-eating sauropsids (reptiles). Many had complex and often bizarre adaptations for defense, display, feeding, and locomotion. The group includes armored dinosaurs, such as Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus; duckbills and their relatives; and the horned and dome-headed dinosaurs, such as Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurus.

Museum visitors view the Triceratops mount in the Hall of Ornithischians.
Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs

Saurischian dinosaurs include the giant plant-eating sauropods and the carnivorous theropods. This hall features the imposing mounts of Tyrannosaurus rex and Apatosaurus. The saurischian hand is the key to the group's remarkable history. Saurischians are characterized by grasping hands, in which the thumb is offset from the other fingers.

Visitors view the Tyrannosaurus rex mount in the Hall of Saurischians. D. Finnin/© AMNH

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Visit these Dinos and More!

Exhibit Tyrannosaurus rex What’s the story behind the Museum’s T. rex fossil? Exhibit Allosaurus Allosaurus is shown feeding on a carcass with bones marked by grooves. Exhibit Triceratops This 65-million-year-old Triceratops has a large frill on the back of its skull, and two large horns over its eyes. Exhibit Coelophysis Museum explorers uncovered Coelophysis specimens in a "death assemblage"– where a group of the same animal is preserved. Exhibit Deinonychus At 7 feet long, Deinonychus belonged to a group of dinosaurs called maniraptors, or "hand-robbers." Exhibit Velociraptor Velociraptor was a fierce predator, as evidenced by the sharp teeth of this specimen. Exhibit Corythosaurus Corythosaurus is a member of the group of duck-billed dinosaurs called hadrosaurs, which walked and ran on their two hind legs. Exhibit Dinosaur Mummy The Museum’s dinosaur mummy is a fossilized imprint of the carcass of a duck-billed dinosaur. Exhibit Duck-Billed Dinosaur Anatotitan was a duck-billed dinosaur, one of the most widespread dinosaur groups. Exhibit Psittacosaurus At 4 feet long and 2 feet tall, Psittacosaurus (pronounced sih-TACK-oh-sore-us) lived some 100 million years ago. Exhibit Stegosaurus At one time, some scientists thought Stegosaurus had a second brain because the one in its head seemed so small. Exhibit Apatosaurus The Museum's Apatosaurus, collected in the late 1890s, was the first sauropod dinosaur ever mounted.