Amelia Mularz had an EXTREME weekend visiting the newest exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History.
Heading to the American Museum of Natural History always makes me feel like a kid again. Within minutes of stepping foot in the museum this past weekend, my friend and I had already challenged each other to a T. rex impersonation face-off and battled for the greatest--or most annoying, judging from one woman's expression--pterodactyl cry. His take on the prehistoric call sounded oddly reminiscent of 21st century screeching car brakes, while mine was more of a wounded animal sob--either way, music to our ears. We exchanged obligatory high-fives and headed towards the latest exhibit at AMNH, Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, the Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time.
If the entryway of the museum can excite two full-grown adults to the point of shameless dino shenanigans, you can only imagine what an exhibit with a name like EXTREME MAMMALS did to us. The exhibit, which opened this past Saturday, takes a look at some of the most incredible creatures, extinct and living, to ever roam the planet. Extreme Mammals packs a punch from the moment you enter--through the legs of the largest land mammal ever (the Indricotherium, which weighed as much as four adult African elephants)--until the moment you exit--near the interactive web activity.
One look at the Indricotherium, and our child-like excitement once again took hold of us: "Whoa, look at this unicorn thing!" (actually a narwhal whale with an eight-foot tusk). "Oh my god, this elephant has a shovel for a face!" (actually a prehistoric elephant with oversized incisors). "Dude, this squirrel ate dinosaurs!" (actually, the Repenomamus).
At one point, between pointing excitedly at the fossils of a massive horned creature and peeking through a glass window at live sugar gliders, we realized we were just steps away from one of the curatorial assistants for the exhibit, William Harcourt-Smith. I had the pleasure of speaking to Harcourt-Smith and learning about the process for determining what qualifies as "extreme."
Heading to the American Museum of Natural History always makes me feel like a kid again. Within minutes of stepping foot in the museum this past weekend, my friend and I had already challenged each other to a T. rex impersonation face-off and battled for the greatest--or most annoying, judging from one woman's expression--pterodactyl cry. His take on the prehistoric call sounded oddly reminiscent of 21st century screeching car brakes, while mine was more of a wounded animal sob--either way, music to our ears. We exchanged obligatory high-fives and headed towards the latest exhibit at AMNH, Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, the Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time. 
If the entryway of the museum can excite two full-grown adults to the point of shameless dino shenanigans, you can only imagine what an exhibit with a name like EXTREME MAMMALS did to us. The exhibit, which opened this past Saturday, takes a look at some of the most incredible creatures, extinct and living, to ever roam the planet. Extreme Mammals packs a punch from the moment you enter--through the legs of the largest land mammal ever (the Indricotherium, which weighed as much as four adult African elephants)--until the moment you exit--near the interactive web activity. One look at the Indricotherium, and our child-like excitement once again took hold of us: "Whoa, look at this unicorn thing!" (actually a narwhal whale with an eight-foot tusk). "Oh my god, this elephant has a shovel for a face!" (actually a prehistoric elephant with oversized incisors). "Dude, this squirrel ate dinosaurs!" (actually, the Repenomamus).
At one point, between pointing excitedly at the fossils of a massive horned creature and peeking through a glass window at live sugar gliders, we realized we were just steps away from one of the curatorial assistants for the exhibit, William Harcourt-Smith. I had the pleasure of speaking to Harcourt-Smith and learning about the process for determining what qualifies as "extreme."
Continue reading Extreme Mammals Take NYC.
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