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Learn about fossils, extremely rare—and valuable—records of the past. 

A paleontologist travels to Antarctica to collect fossil evidence.
Fossils are the key to understanding life in the past.

Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. 

Anyone can find fossils. This handy guide tells you where to look and what to do.
Ross MacPhee has always loved dirt. It means the opportunity to find lost things--from bones and teeth to pirate treasur...

Paleontologist John Flynn answers this question.
Every summer, Museum paleontologists join Mongolian scientists to hunt for fossils. 
Carefully removing the fossils without damaging them takes talent, special tools, and lots of patience. 

Match up these eight dinosaur fossil photos with their descriptions.
A dinosaur book led to this paleontologist's lifelong fascination with fossils.
Mongolia is a large country in the middle of Asia. Its Gobi Desert is a fossil "gold mine" for paleontologists.
Located in the Gobi Desert, this is a fossil "hot spot" for Museum paleontologists. 
In the 1940s, paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History discovered rich fossil beds in the high desert...
Sterling was always fascinated by nature, ancient history, and archaeology. Since he was 15 years old, he has spent ever...
This fossilized skull was recently discovered at Ukhaa Tolgod in the Gobi Desert. It is probably from a new kind of dino...
When you ride in a car, watch your favorite television show, or take a hot shower, you're most likely using fossil fuels...
Join inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops.
This plant-eating dinosaur might have weighed as much as 225 kilograms (500 pounds)!
About 80 million years ago, the carnivorous Velociraptor and the plant eating Protoceratops fought to the death.
Long before dinosaurs, these strange roach-like creatures scurried along the ancient sea floor.

Take a peek inside two paleontologists' scrapbook.
Flashback to 80 million years ago in the Gobi Desert. Deltatheridium scurried among dinosaurs.
This rare lizard lived in the Gobi Desert about 80 million years ago. 
Although extinct today, this gopher-sized mammal thrived during the Mesozoic Era for about two million years.
About 80 million years ago in the Gobi Desert, sixteen dinosaurs hatched in this nest. One of the hatchlings died before...
In the 1920s, the first team of Museum paleontologists trekked to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
This real-life "Indiana Jones" led the first AMNH expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

How do your fossil-sorting skills stack up? Put them to the test with this kid-friendly online puzzle.

What is it like to hunt for dinosaur fossils? And what discoveries are made back in the lab?
Oviraptor was a bizarre-looking, toothless dinosaur. 
Psittacosaurus is one of the oldest and most primitive ceratopians ever found!
Paleontologists uncovered this just-hatched Protoceratops in 1997 at Ukhaa Tolgod.
The first vertebrates to fly took to the skies about 215 million years ago. These creatures were neither birds nor bats....
Unlike modern reptiles, pterosaurs weren't covered in scales. They were covered in fuzz! Pterosaurs kept warm with a thi...

In this interview, meet the cast of a titanosaur, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found!
When "ologists" observe plants, animals, fossils, or rocks, they know they won't remember every detail. So they keep not...

Meet a rock that's made almost entirely of fossils! 
Limestone is made up of fossils. After small marine animals die, their shells and skeletons build up on the ocean floor....
Until 1828, pterosaur fossils had been found only in Germany. Then a new kind of pterosaur fossil was discovered in Engl...
About 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called Pterodaustro guinazui soared above the coast of what is now Argenti...
Museum scientists made a surprising discovery in the Gobi Desert: an egg that contained the remains of a tiny dinosaur e...

What skin color, eye color, and type of feathers will you give this T. rex?

About 80 million years ago two dinosaurs were locked in deadly combat when they were suddenly buried alive. See one of the greatest fossil specimens ever found.
This theropod belonged to a group called ornithomimids, also called "ostrich-mimics." 
Compared to other titanosaurs, Gondwanatitan was a peewee at only about 7.5 meters (25 feet) long. 
This horned dinosaur had two long spikes on the back of its frill, the bony extension behind its skull.
This plant-eating dinosaur was an ornithopod, as are duck-bill dinosaurs. 
With its bird-like features, this animal was mistaken for a giant bird for a while.
This prehistoric relative of living ducks had a long neck, tall legs, webbed feet, and a duck-like head.
His love of natural sciences and extreme camping led this scientist to paleontology.

Examine fossils and gather clues from experts!
Its brow horns and snout horn inspired this dinosaur's name, which means "three-horned face."
This massive plant-eater lived about 100 million years ago. Today, a cast of this 122-foot long titanosaur welcomes visi...

Paleontologist Mark Norell answers kids’ questions.
As a kid, John Flynn had a rock collection and made lots of trips with his family and school to the American Museum of N...
Dug up in the Alxa Desert in China, this is the oldest and most complete therizinosaur ever found.
As you can tell from its body plates and tail spikes, this dinosaur is related to Stegosaurus. 
Because of the diamond-shaped plates on its back, Stegosaurus was given a name that means "roof lizard." 

Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. 

Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. 

Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. 
Archaeologists use many kinds of tools when they excavate, from large shovels to toothbrushes. But the trowel is their m...
Many artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History will spend time in the Conservation Lab, the Museum's hospital ...
Confuciusornis is the earliest-known toothless, beaked bird.
With its long, dramatic crest, the giant Pteranodon longiceps is easy to recognize.
Named in 2000, this dinosaur is hot off the "paleo" presses! Unlike the jagged teeth of other troodontids, Byronosaurus ...

In this interview, meet the cast of a titanosaur, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found!
Sandstone is made of tiny pieces of sand you can see and feel. You can actually scratch away grains of sand from a piece...
Scientists are developing and improving "clean" energy sources. But for the next hundred years, the world will continue ...
Sauropods weren't just the largest dinosaurs. They were also the largest animals to ever live on land. The sauropod Mame...
This primitive armored dinosaur had bony plates and spikes that served almost like armor.

Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. 
One of the earlier dinosaurs to appear on Earth was Coelophysis. It was a small, but skilled hunter that lived during th...
Of all the dinosaurs to roam the Earth, the largest ones belonged to a group called sauropods- huge plant-eating dinosau...

Bury chicken bones in plaster of Paris to see the challenges paleontologists face when excavating fossils.
These creatures have lived in Earth's oceans for over 545 million years!

Take a look at some unusual living and extinct mammals.
Join the inquisitive Deena Soris as she interviews the fossil of a Protoceratops. This dashing dino, dug up in Mongolia ...
Imagine a flying reptile the size of a two-seater plane! That's Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying animals ever. ...
The most dazzling feature on many pterosaurs was a spectacular head crest. Tupuxuara leonardii had one of the most impre...
Many famous dinosaurs, such as T. rex and Triceratops, first appeared in the Cretaceous Period.
About 80 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, this armored plant-eater roamed the Gobi Desert in Central Asia....
This famous long-necked, long-tailed wonder belongs to a group called "sauropods." 

Take a peek at our planet's layers, learn what secrets rocks reveal, and gain a long view of history.
This predator has fast feet, a pair of "killing claws," and more than 60 jagged teeth!

Find out how paleontologist John Flynn answered kids' questions.
The name Jurassic conjures images of tremendous dinosaurs roaming the Earth.
Earth was a very different place at the beginning of the Triassic. All of Earth's continents were combined into one supe...
Effigia looks just like a dinosaur. It particularly looks a lot like bird-like dinosaurs called ornithomimids, or ostric...
One look at Redondasaurus, and you might think it's a crocodile. After all, it has a similar long, armored body, with a ...
When the famous Tyrannosaurus rex roamed North America, a very similar dinosaur was living on the other side of the Eart...

Find out about Earth's climate, its consequences, and what we can do.

Explore the connections between technology, population and rising atmospheric CO2.

Learn how to look at a bunch of bones and draw what a dinosaur looked like. 

Kids took the OLogy Challenge and shared their work with us!

Kids took the OLogy Challenge and shared their work with us!
Arctic ice is melting. Coral reefs are disappearing. Sea levels are rising. These events are part of an even bigger prob...

In this interview, meet the cast of a titanosaur, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found!

Check out the scrapbook to learn about this amazing race!

From oceans to rivers, sharks, rays, and skates are everywhere. And they’re so diverse! Get to know the different kinds.
Based on fossils of ancient dragonflies, we know these winged insects have been soaring around for at least 300 million ...

Paleontologist Mark Norell answers questions about T. rex.
Ed Mathez has always been fascinated by rocks and the Earth. As a young boy, he went with his mother to old rock quarrie...
Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Your body just released carbon dioxide, a colorless gas that's essential to life o...

Check out the scrapbook to learn about this amazing race!

What animal bones did early humans used to build huts? Take a guess!

Biodiversity scientist Richard Pearson answers this question.

Humans are the only living creature that have the power to help the polar bears!

Take a closer look at how the atmosphere keeps our planet warm.

Did you know that all continents on Earth were once a huge supercontinent?

What is hidden within Cuba’s underground caves? Play this matching game to find out! ¡TAMBIÉN EN ESPAÑOL!
Are these rare and colorful creatures flowering plants or animals?

Museum scientists answer kids' questions!

The largest mammal at the Museum is interviewed by the largest dinosaur
If you look at a map, the coasts of South America and Africa seem to fit together like puzzle pieces.
For thousands of years, the dragon has been an unmistakable symbol around the world. But this lizard-like beast doesn't ...
These rocks provide the most clues about the history of life on Earth. 

Astrophysicist Mordecai-Mark Mac Low answers this question.
This is one of the oldest known dinosaurs!

How is the ocean like a layer cake? What creatures live there? And how important is the ocean? Take a dive and find out!

In this interview, meet the cast of a titanosaur, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found!
The mythic bird-creature Garuda is often shown attacking Nagas, snakelike creatures with human heads.

Test your knowledge about our planet Earth with this quiz.

Find out what you can do to protect the oceans and ocean life.
Most people know red and black spotted ladybird beetles as friendly insects that are fun to pick up and watch fly away. ...

Biodiversity is the rich variety of life on Earth. But why is it important?
Antarctica is like no other place on Earth. The continent is covered almost entirely by a thick ice sheet. Yet there is ...
In 1910, British naval officer Robert Falcon Scott set sail for Antarctica aboard the Terra Nova. He hoped to be the fir...
Henry Bowers was no stranger to the sea. He had sailed around the world 5 times. But when he join- ed Robert Scott's fam...
Apsley Cherry-Garrard was 24 when he joined Robert Scott's expedition to Antarctica. Known as "Cherry," he was one of th...
As a child in Norway, Roald Amundsen dreamed of being a polar explorer. At 26, he was one of the first people to spend t...
Oscar Wisting was part of the famous Antarctic expedition led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He was a talente...
In the early 1900s, Olav Bjaaland was a skiing champion in Norway. In 1910, he joined famous explorer Roald Amundsen on ...
Find out how humans are threatening species, and what we can do to help protect them.

Do you dig the Earth? If so, you'll want to meet Ed.

Find out more about global warming. How, and why, we should slow it?

What does it mean to be human?

OLogy learning: Find resources for K-5 grade levels.
The Komodo dragon lumbers through the forest on its thick, stocky legs. It sways its head back and forth, flicking its l...
This extinct bird weighed over 330 pounds and had heavy legs and tiny wings. 
To try to piece together how organisms are related, scientists use cladistics.

A marine biologist answers kids' questions about how climate change affects life in the ocean.

Tracking a gorilla can get hairy. Literally. Just ask George Amato.

Ross MacPhee has always loved dirt. To him it means the opportunity to find lost things — from bones and teeth to pirate treasure.

Find out where Rob has followed his born curiosity.

Find out how he became a geologist and what you can learn from studying rocks.