Hall of Biodiversity

 
© AMNH
The Hall of Biodiversity presents a vivid portrait of the beauty and abundance of life on Earth, highlighting both biodiversity and the factors that threaten it.

Ecological biodiversity is illustrated by a 2,500-square-foot walk-through diorama that depicts part of the Dzanga-Sangha rain forest, one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems. Featuring more than 160 species of flora and fauna, the diorama uses video and sound to re-create the ecosystem at dawn, at an elephant clearing, and degraded by human intervention along a road.

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The Allosaurus and Barosaurus dinosaur mounts in a dramatic staged face-off in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda. In a dramatic representation of an imagined prehistoric encounter between predator and prey, a Barosaurus rears up to protect its young from an attacking Allosaurus. The enormous Barosaurus is the world’s tallest freestanding dinosaur mount, and composed of casts of real bone, since fossils are too heavy to support in this way.

The hall’s Spectrum of Life exhibit showcases the diversity of life resulting from 3.5 billion years of evolution. More than 1,500 specimens and models, from microorganisms to terrestrial and aquatic giants, are organized into 28 groups along the 100-foot-long installation.

Underscoring threats to biodiversity, a timeline of the five previous mass extinctions includes examples of species lost. A nearby display case features examples of extinct and threatened species, including the long-extinct Dodo bird and the threatened Siberian tiger. A multi-screen video installation provides a tour of nine ecosystems and explores perils to preservation, and a regularly updated BioBulletin video features the latest in biodiversity research.

 

In This Hall

Exhibit The Spectrum of Life The abundance of life on Earth, with over 1,500 specimens depicting a wide array of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. Exhibit The Dzanga-Sangha Rain Forest The Dzanga-Sangha Rain Forest is home to one of the highest concentrations of forest elephants and lowland gorillas in Africa. Exhibit Siberian Tiger Audacious carnivores, tigers bring down large animals with a flying tackle, forcing their canines into the victim's throat or spine. Exhibit Dodo Bird The Dodo is a lesson in extinction. Deforestation and hunting by Dutch settlers led to their end in just under 80 years. Exhibit Endangered Species In the past, natural events caused large-scale transformations of the environment. Human activity is now the primary factor. Exhibit Protists Microscopically small and usually just a single cell, protists are complex, varied organisms. Their modes of locomotion vary. Museum Hall Guide Educator Resources: Hall of Biodiversity Activities and guides to aid in exploring the Hall of Biodiversity.