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.

🎵 I want something else to get me through this… semi-slug kind of life. Meet the long-tailed semi-slug (Ibycus rachelae)...
10/14/2026

🎵 I want something else to get me through this… semi-slug kind of life. Meet the long-tailed semi-slug (Ibycus rachelae)! This critter, and other semi-slugs, still have shells like snails. But unlike the shells of snails, semi-slugs’ shells are too small for the animals to retract their bodies into. Growing up to 1.6 in (4 cm) long, this species can be found in the montane forests of Borneo. It can often be spotted wrapping its tail—which measures three times the length of its body—around its body like a cat. The long-tailed semi-slug was unknown to science until 2008.

Photo: Albert Kang, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

It's time for Trilobite Tuesday! Each year, exciting new trilobite repositories are unearthed throughout the Paleozoic s...
10/13/2026

It's time for Trilobite Tuesday! Each year, exciting new trilobite repositories are unearthed throughout the Paleozoic soils of Morocco. A variety of beautifully preserved Devonian trilobites—such as this spinose, 1.5-in- (3.8-cm-) long odontopleurid—have been found near the town of Jorf. Many specimens from this site feature an eye-catching, glass-like appearance—the result of their unique, vitreous preservation.

Meet the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). Growing up to 374.8 lbs (170 kg), this species is commonly found swimming in ice-...
10/12/2026

Meet the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). Growing up to 374.8 lbs (170 kg), this species is commonly found swimming in ice-free northern waters; it prefers to inhabit saltwater bays and estuaries, or even freshwater lakes and rivers. Its diet includes fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. While the harbor seal is awkward on land and moves with a bouncing crawl, it’s a graceful swimmer in water. This marine mammal can hold its breath for up to 30 minutes and can even snooze while submerged!

Photo: Pierce Louderback, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Boo! Behold the terrifying visage of the whitemargin stargazer (Uranoscopus sulphureus). This ambush predator can reach ...
10/12/2026

Boo! Behold the terrifying visage of the whitemargin stargazer (Uranoscopus sulphureus). This ambush predator can reach lengths of 17.7 in (45 cm) and inhabits parts of the Indo-Pacific. Its upturned face allows it to spend much of its time burrowed beneath the sand—nearly invisible as it waits for passing prey like fish or crustaceans. There are around 50 species of stargazers in the family Uranoscopidae throughout the world. Some species, such as the northern and southern stargazers, have special organs behind their eyes that can create an electric charge to deter potential threats from getting closer.

Photo: Robin Gwen Agarwal, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Did you know? The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) has the longest neck relative to body size out of any swan species! Its da...
10/11/2026

Did you know? The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) has the longest neck relative to body size out of any swan species! Its dark plumage, contrasting red eyes, and bright red bill make it easy to identify in the Australian wetlands that it inhabits. This bird can plunge its neck as much as 3.2 ft (1 m) deep underwater in order to search for food! What’s on the menu? A variety of aquatic vegetation, such as algae and seagrass.

Photo: paulo_zenha, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

For today's Exhibit of the Day, let’s walk back in time to 1961 to follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs! 🦕🦖👣 This archiv...
10/10/2026

For today's Exhibit of the Day, let’s walk back in time to 1961 to follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs! 🦕🦖👣

This archival image features the Glen Rose Trackway in the Museum’s Hall of Early Dinosaurs. What’s the Glen Rose Trackway? It’s a 107-million-year-old series of fossilized dinosaur tracks. Excavated from the bed of the Paluxy River in Texas in 1940, it gives a picture of dinosaurs that in some ways is more striking than the one offered by fossils. The smaller prints are from a theropod, a dinosaur that walked on two hind feet. The larger ones were probably left by a plant-eating sauropod, such as Apatosaurus—the hind feet of which measure 3 ft (0.9 m) in length. You can still spot the Glen Rose Trackway in the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs.

Photo: Image no. ptc-999 / © AMNH Library

Were you born in October? Then that means one of your birthstones is tourmaline! Some of the first gemstones mined in th...
10/10/2026

Were you born in October? Then that means one of your birthstones is tourmaline! Some of the first gemstones mined in the United States, tourmalines come in a variety of colors. Their hue is determined by the metals present in each gemstone’s crystal structure. For example, pink tourmalines contain more manganese, while green tourmalines have higher levels of iron, chromium, and vanadium.

Photo: © AMNH

Crikey! Meet Irwin’s snapping turtle (Elseya irwini). The late Steve Irwin, and his father Bob Irwin, spotted this rare ...
10/09/2026

Crikey! Meet Irwin’s snapping turtle (Elseya irwini). The late Steve Irwin, and his father Bob Irwin, spotted this rare reptile in the early 1990s and contacted herpetologist John Cann. He was the first to describe this species—and he named it after the Irwins! This turtle can be found in Queensland, Australia, where it inhabits rivers and feeds on algae, snails, and aquatic vegetation.

Photo: Ian Sutton, CC BY 2.0, flickr

10/09/2026

📚 Step into the Museum Archives housed in the Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center with Harold Boeschenstein Director Tom Baione, and learn more about the mammals of Australia!

Do you remember where you were on this day 34 years ago? If you were hanging out in Peekskill, New York, you might have ...
10/09/2026

Do you remember where you were on this day 34 years ago? If you were hanging out in Peekskill, New York, you might have seen a meteorite fall from the sky. ☄️

It all started when a brilliant fireball flashed over Peekskill, a town about 50 miles (80.5 km) north of New York City, startling fans at a high school football game. Nearby residents heard a terrific crash as a rock the size of a bowling ball dropped from above onto a parked Chevy Malibu at about 7:50 pm ET, piercing the trunk and denting the driveway beneath it. Seconds after the crash, the stone was found near the car’s crumpled trunk, still warm and smelling of sulfur.

Photo: © AMNH

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