How do you re-create the moon shadows seen on a snowy December night? That was the challenge artist Stephen C. Quinn faced when new energy-efficient lights were installed in the wolf diorama, creating new shadows that weren’t consistent with the scene.

Here, Quinn adds various pigments to the “snow” to re-create the illusion of shadows that would result from the Moon casting its eerie blue light on the wolves and surrounding trees. 

By analyzing the DNA of more than 600 coyotes, researchers were finally able to understand why northeastern coyotes are larger than those in the West: many of them are actually part wolf. Nearly a century ago, coyotes mated with wolves in the Great Lakes region and produced fertile offspring. Check out the full story here.

© AMNH/R. Mickens

Each of the Museum’s dioramas depict a real location at a particular time of day. Painters like James Perry Wilson, a self-taught landscape painter who worked at the Museum from 1943 to 1957, referred to photographs and plein air paintings to recreate the scenes for the Hall of North American Mammals’ dioramas. An architect by training, Wilson perfected a grid system to compensate for distortions caused by the curved shape of the diorama’s wall.

Click the image to watch archival footage of Wilson painting the backgrounds of select dioramas.

At first glance at this majestic diorama in the Hall of North American Mammals, it appears as if two male moose battle while a female stands off to the side, waiting for her would-be mate.

 However, new field research has revealed this scene isn’t so simple: http://bit.ly/RwY10a

Photo taken behind the scenes during the restoration of the moose diorama © AMNH/R. Mickens

How do you re-create the moon shadows seen on a snowy December night?

That was the challenge artist Stephen C. Quinn faced when new energy-efficient lights were installed in the wolf diorama, creating new shadows that weren’t consistent with the scene. Find out how he did it in this video. 

Image © AMNH/R. Mickens

To create the lifelike moments in the Museum’s dioramas, artisans made meticulously accurate animal sculptures following a method developed by legendary explorer and taxidermist Carl Akeley. Artist Stephen C. Quinn explains how in this video. 

Photo © AMNH/D. Finnin

“…These really are considered the best in the world” says artist and naturalist Stephen C. Quinn of the stunning dioramas in the Museum’s Hall of North American Mammals. 

An expert team of conservators and Museum artists led a masterful restoration of this historic hall, which first opened in 1942. Preview the incredible work that has gone into these dioramas in this video and join us when the hall officially reopens on October 27. 

Image © AMNH/D. Finnin