1. Mysterious rocks, fossil bones, and other curious items streamed into the Museum last month, as thousands brought their finds to the Museum’s annual Identification Day on Saturday, May 11. Visitors lined up to see specimens from the Museum’s collections and to have their finds examined by experts from various scientific departments.  Learn more about 2013’s ID day here and see more pictures of visitors with their identified objects here!

    Mysterious rocks, fossil bones, and other curious items streamed into the Museum last month, as thousands brought their finds to the Museum’s annual Identification Day on Saturday, May 11. Visitors lined up to see specimens from the Museum’s collections and to have their finds examined by experts from various scientific departments. 

    Learn more about 2013’s ID day here and see more pictures of visitors with their identified objects here!

  2. Planning a visit to the American Museum of Natural History?

    Download Explorer, the free wayfinding app that makes navigating the world-famous halls of the American Museum of Natural History easier than ever. Use the app on your mobile device and have guided tours, digital exhibits, and a personal GPS in your pocket!

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    Coming to the American Museum of Natural History with a budding paleontologist? Use the Fossil Treasure Hunt and use clues to find specimens in the Museum’s fossil halls!

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    Only have an hour? Take the short Highlights tour and fit the full Museum experience into your busy schedule. 

    Learn more about Explorer here or download it at the iTunes store.

  3. Tonight, get a rare, behind-the-scenes peek at the workings of the Museum in a new television documentary, Treasures of New York: American Museum of Natural History, hosted by Tom Brokaw.Tune in tonight at 8 pm on WLIW21 and Sunday, May 5, at 7 pm on WNET.  © AMNH/D. Finnin

    Tonight, get a rare, behind-the-scenes peek at the workings of the Museum in a new television documentary, Treasures of New York: American Museum of Natural History, hosted by Tom Brokaw.

    Tune in tonight at 8 pm on WLIW21 and Sunday, May 5, at 7 pm on WNET. 

     © AMNH/D. Finnin

  4. From the collections: In the mountains of northern Luzon in the Philippines, the Ifugao people cultivate rice on elaborate terraces with intricate irrigation systems. Some households keep carved wooden bulul figures representing mythological deities to ensure good harvests and to protect the fields and granaries. These figures are venerated and passed down for generations. (via Wooden Ifugao Figures from Anthropology’s Philippines Collection)

    From the collections:

    In the mountains of northern Luzon in the Philippines, the Ifugao people cultivate rice on elaborate terraces with intricate irrigation systems. Some households keep carved wooden bulul figures representing mythological deities to ensure good harvests and to protect the fields and granaries. These figures are venerated and passed down for generations.

    (via Wooden Ifugao Figures from Anthropology’s Philippines Collection)

  5. When Carl Akeley first envisioned the Akeley Hall of African Mammals he imagined it would provide visitors with glimpses of African landscapes as though through the windows of a moving train. The tradition of habitat dioramas at the Museum is a storied one and some of the finest examples can be seen in the restored Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals.

    When Carl Akeley first envisioned the Akeley Hall of African Mammals he imagined it would provide visitors with glimpses of African landscapes as though through the windows of a moving train.

    The tradition of habitat dioramas at the Museum is a storied one and some of the finest examples can be seen in the restored Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals.

  6. Imagine a world without computers, TV - or even color photography. Now, imagine seeing one of the Museum’s dioramas. Would they inspire you to be more environmentally aware? That was one objective of the creators of the original dioramas at the Museum. Keep reading after the link: http://bit.ly/Wbi86q  (c) AMNH/C. Chesek

    Imagine a world without computers, TV - or even color photography.

    Now, imagine seeing one of the Museum’s dioramas. 

    Would they inspire you to be more environmentally aware? That was one objective of the creators of the original dioramas at the Museum. Keep reading after the link: http://bit.ly/Wbi86q 

    (c) AMNH/C. Chesek

  7. A moment of rest in the newly restored Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals. (c) AMNH/D. Finnin

    A moment of rest in the newly restored Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals.

    (c) AMNH/D. Finnin

  8. We’re getting in the holiday spirit over here! Is there anything better than a festive dinosaur? (c) AMNH/R. Mickens

    We’re getting in the holiday spirit over here! Is there anything better than a festive dinosaur?

    (c) AMNH/R. Mickens

  9. In Jane Austen’s day, only the most privileged English families served “ices”—frozen desserts made of fruit, sugar and water or cream. Cooks often pressed these concoctions into fruit- or flower-shaped molds to make frosty, alluring sculptures. “For Elegance and Ease and Luxury,” Austen wrote while staying at the manor house of her wealthier brother Edward, “I shall eat Ice & drink French wine”—two exclusive treats that she did without at her own modest home. Peek into the dining rooms of famous figures throughout history in Our Global Kitchen. 

    In Jane Austen’s day, only the most privileged English families served “ices”—frozen desserts made of fruit, sugar and water or cream. Cooks often pressed these concoctions into fruit- or flower-shaped molds to make frosty, alluring sculptures. “For Elegance and Ease and Luxury,” Austen wrote while staying at the manor house of her wealthier brother Edward, “I shall eat Ice & drink French wine”—two exclusive treats that she did without at her own modest home.

    Peek into the dining rooms of famous figures throughout history in Our Global Kitchen. 

  10. Stroll through an ancient market, cook a virtual meal, peek inside the dining rooms of illustrious individuals—and consider some of the most challenging issues of our time.  The Museum’s new exhibition Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture opens today! Image: USDA

    Stroll through an ancient market, cook a virtual meal, peek inside the dining rooms of illustrious individuals—and consider some of the most challenging issues of our time. 

    The Museum’s new exhibition Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture opens today! 

    Image: USDA