American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History The Museum showcases its amazing treasures in the exhibit halls, and behind the scenes more than 200 scientists are at work making new discoveries.

Since its founding in 1869, the American Museum of Natural History has collected more than 33 million specimens relating to the natural world and human cultures. Millions of people from around the world visit the Museum each year.

Have you ever seen a “bleeding” fungus? When the devil’s tooth (Hydnellum peckii) is moist, it oozes striking droplets o...
08/24/2026

Have you ever seen a “bleeding” fungus? When the devil’s tooth (Hydnellum peckii) is moist, it oozes striking droplets of red liquid. But this only happens when the fungus is young—as it grows, it turns brownish and stops secreting this fluid. Believe it or not, this “bleeding” mushroom is not toxic! The mycorrhizal fungus has a symbiotic relationship with the roots of a plant (in this case, coniferous trees), helping to provide nutrients while deriving carbohydrates produced from photosynthesis.

Photo: Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist

Twenty years ago today, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth plane...
08/24/2026

Twenty years ago today, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet in our solar system until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to reclassify it. In order to qualify as a planet, Pluto must orbit the Sun, be nearly round, and clear its orbit. While Pluto orbits the Sun and is round, it’s not massive enough to control any other object in its orbit with its gravitational force.

Pluto also consists of a rocky core with ice around the outside—making it more similar to objects in the Kuiper Belt, a band of cometary debris at the edge of our solar system, than it is to the other eight planets. Located 3.7 billion mi (5.9 billion km) from the Sun, it takes Pluto 248 Earth years to orbit the Sun.

Image: NASA, PD, Wikimedia Commons

This critter can spend up to 23 hours a day looking for food! Meet the Eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus). This tiny mole...
08/24/2026

This critter can spend up to 23 hours a day looking for food! Meet the Eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus). This tiny mole weighs 4.9 oz (140 g)—about the weight of about two C batteries. With poor eyesight and hearing, it spends most of its life underground and relies on its sense of touch and smell to navigate its environment. It can be found tunneling its way through the eastern and central United States where it hunts for worms and insects.

Photo: Kenneth Catania, Vanderbilt University, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

My, what big teeth you have! Meet the fangtooth moray (Enchelycore anatina). It’s native to parts of the Atlantic Ocean ...
08/23/2026

My, what big teeth you have! Meet the fangtooth moray (Enchelycore anatina). It’s native to parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, where it tends to lurk in reef crevices at depths of around 33 ft (10 m). When an appetizing fish or crustacean passes by its lair, the fangtooth will emerge to sn**ch its meal. This fish can grow to about 4 ft (1.2 m) long!

Photo: Philippe Guillaume, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Today’s Exhibit of the Day? Snapped sometime before 1921, this archival image depicts a Museum preparator sculpting a cl...
08/22/2026

Today’s Exhibit of the Day? Snapped sometime before 1921, this archival image depicts a Museum preparator sculpting a clay model of an extinct brontothere. Many brontotheres, or “thunder beasts,” had large bony “horns” on their snouts. Strong neck musculature suggests that these animals may have used their headgear to batter rivals or defend themselves from predators. These horns may have also been used to attract mates: However, such paleontological puzzles are hard to test and solve with any certainty when no close evolutionary relatives are still living. Brontotheres became extinct about 30 million years ago during the Eocene.

Photo: © AMNH Library / Image no. 35734

Despite its serpentine appearance, the red worm lizard (Amphisbaena alba) is not a snake! Found in parts of South Americ...
08/22/2026

Despite its serpentine appearance, the red worm lizard (Amphisbaena alba) is not a snake! Found in parts of South America, this burrowing reptile spends most of its time underground. With small eyes and covered-over ears, it hunts instead by sensing vibrations and through chemical receptors in its forked tongue. It feeds on leaf-cutter ants, beetles, and even small vertebrates, such as mice. When threatened, it flashes its powerful jaws and exposes its tail, which resembles its head, to intimidate foes or misdirect their attacks.

Photo: Pedro Couto, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist

With large round eyes and a fluffy coat of fur, you might describe slow lorises (genus Nycticebus) as adorable—but did y...
08/21/2026

With large round eyes and a fluffy coat of fur, you might describe slow lorises (genus Nycticebus) as adorable—but did you know these primates also have a venomous bite? They’re one of the only mammalian species on Earth to possess this rare trait. A gland under the loris’s arm produces a chemical that turns deadly when mixed with loris saliva. Those bitten have reported anaphylactic shock, extreme pain, and infection among other side effects.

Photo: 昆虫学liuye, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Happy Fossil Friday! This archival image, snapped sometime before 1960, depicts duck-billed dinosaurs on display, side b...
08/21/2026

Happy Fossil Friday! This archival image, snapped sometime before 1960, depicts duck-billed dinosaurs on display, side by side, at the Museum. Also known as hadrosaurids, these massive herbivores were the dominant plant-eaters in many areas of the world during the Late Cretaceous about 85 million years ago. In addition to their duck-like beaks and webbed front feet, hadrosaurs had powerful jaws with hundreds of blunt teeth that were ideal for grinding fibrous land plants.

Photo: Image no. ptc-223/ © AMNH Library

Here’s a hat you don’t want to wear: the flower hat jelly (Olindias formosus)! Biofluorescent tips at the end of this cr...
08/20/2026

Here’s a hat you don’t want to wear: the flower hat jelly (Olindias formosus)! Biofluorescent tips at the end of this critter’s tentacles help it find food: Curious prey are lured in by the glowing tips, subdued with a sting, and then consumed. This jelly's menu includes small fish and zooplankton. Found throughout the west Pacific ocean, this invertebrate is semi-benthic, meaning it spends a decent amount of its time near the ocean floor.

Photo: chris favero, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Meet one of the smallest deer in the world: the pudú (Pudu puda). Inhabiting parts of Chile and Argentina, this dainty d...
08/20/2026

Meet one of the smallest deer in the world: the pudú (Pudu puda). Inhabiting parts of Chile and Argentina, this dainty deer typically weighs less than 30 lbs (13.5 kg)—making it smaller than many domestic dog breeds! But don’t be fooled by its size: This unassuming critter can be fiercely territorial. Rival males have been known to fight to the death. The pudú builds small tunnels or burrows in the underbrush to hide from predators like pumas.

Photo: Bryan Caro San Martin, CC BY-NC 4.0 iNaturalist

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200 Central Park West
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10024

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Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10am - 5:30pm
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Saturday 10am - 5:30pm
Sunday 10am - 5:30pm

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