One thing I've really enjoyed about living in New York is the access to the arts. I'd been wanting to see the
Race to the End of the Earth exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History almost since we found out we were moving to New York. We never seemed to find time to go, and the exhibit was closing in a few days, so we finally got ourselves over there on New Year's Eve.
What a great exhibit! The exhibit told about the race between Amundsen (Norwegian) and Scott (British) to be the first person to the South Pole. We learned a lot of really interesting facts about polar exploration in general, and got to follow the journey of both parties in their race to the pole. I loved the exhibit, and was so glad we were able to make it down. I've already added a bunch of polar-related books to my Amazon wishlist.
My one issue with the exhibit is that it was very pro-British. Amundsen and his team were very focused on getting to the pole, and that was their driving force and only goal. The exhibit wanted to paint him as a cold-hearted jerk who only cared about making it to the pole first, and maybe that's true, but going through the exhibit, there definitely seemed to be a bias. For example - the exhibit was somewhat interactive, and despite the fact that Amundsen got to the South Pole first, the "look and see" part of the exhibit displayed a picture of Scott's team at the pole.
Still, it was a really great exhibit, and I'm very glad we didn't miss it.
And then here's some pictures from the rest of the museum. We walked around a bit before and after the exhibit.
Here are the dinosaurs in the lobby.
One of the dinosaurs is REALLY tall.
Here are some hawks and vultures, in one of the bird halls. I love birds (thanks, Grampy!), so I really enjoyed this part of the museum. We didn't have too much time to look at them very closely, and part of the bird hall was closed, so we're definitely planning on making a trip back to see the birds again.
Here's a hawk up close. Look at those talons!
I think this is an opossum?
Here are some dead bats.
This is a skunk next to a raccoon. I know they're trash pickers and infested with rabies, but I think raccoons are so cute! And I've always wanted a de-smellified skunk as a pet. One year, we thought of dressing Claudius as a skunk for Halloween - all he needs is a fluffier tail and the white stripe!
More birds - owls this time.
I like the horned owls the best.
After the exhibit we went and checked out the dinosaurs and extinct mammal ancestors. First up was this giant flying dinosaur. There were a couple of these hanging from the ceiling.
Check out this guy - look how happy he looks!
See? Happy, or ready to rip your face off, either or.
Here's a giant happy turtle. He looks kind of high to me...
Some underwater thing, suspended from the ceiling.
Another underwater creature.
(Shark?) Jaws! RAR!
I think this is a mastodon, or some other animal like that. I don't know about you, but it's crazy to me that these animals used to just roam around. It makes you feel really small and insignificant.
Another tusked animal.
I would not want to run into this guy out on the prairie! (Or anywhere else.)
This guy cracked me up. Check out his huge antlers! Look at the smirk on his face, too. He knows how badass he looks. The exhibit said that these antlers would regrow every year!
This was one of those situational exhibits - the animal on the right is about to gobble up the tiny, leaping animal on the left. Run!
Some type of ancient bear, perhaps? We were on our way out, so I didn't stop to see what this was.
I have no idea what this display was. I think it was showing the evolution of mammal ancestors over time (different characteristics and how they developed).
Triceratops!
Stegosaurus!
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