A Day at the Natural History Museum

A couple of weekends ago Preston and I spent a nice Saturday (March 12) at the Natural History Museum, in Washington, DC. This was the first time I had been since the new “Hall of Human Origins” was opened, and we spent a good bit of time in there. Preston loved all the skeletons/skulls. And of course, he loved the dinosaur exhibits – which hadn’t changed much since last time we were there (~2 years ago). He kept going from exhibit to exhibit: “what is this one? And this one?…” until it felt like I had read every caption in the museum. But he was very happy. Naturally, we had to stop and watch every video/movie presented in the various exhibits.

Natural History Museum

I did like the Hall of Human Origins; they have a neat entrance tunnel that portrays in a repeating video-mural the evolution of Homo Sapiens from earlier hominids. And the models of the various species of hominids are very life-like. I especially liked seeing a model of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) as I had only previously seen (castings) of the (partial) skeleton. And I swear I’ve seen some specimens of Homo neanderthalensis walking among us; that model was particularly enlightening. Pictures of both are below.

This museum isn’t as hands-on as, say, the Baltimore Science Museum, but it still has enough to keep the interest of a 4-year old for most of a Saturday! Afterward we had a bite to eat at the restaurant out by the (temporary during winter) skating rink in the Sculpture gardens. Great way to end the day!

Click any of the images for a larger-size and slideshow. Enjoy!


Entrance to Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Lucy model in Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Homo neanderthalensis in Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Hall of Human Origins at Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
Great way to relax after a Day at the Museum
Watching the ice skaters at the Sculpture Garden

2 Comments

  1. Eric Boz

    Hey where is the exhibit with the Hobbit in it! Really they found a hobbit! Awesome!

  2. boz

    I didn’t see the exhibit with Flores hobbits “Homo floresiensis” but the Smithsonian does have a good bit of info online. Next time we go to the Museum we’ll look for a hobbit. :)

    http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/asian-research/hobbits

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