Mammals

Exhibitions

closeup of two elephants from the side that appear to have their trunks and tusks entwined

July 14 - October 9, 2023 | NHM

Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards

Exhibition | NHM

African and North American Diorama Halls

Discover breathtakingly realistic scenes of wild animals in their habitats in the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Hall of African Mammals and the North American Diorama Hall.

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Stories

A woman with short gray hair and glasses next to a model orca

Keiko’s Tooth: A Killer Whale, a Movie Star, and the Hidden Power of Museum Collections

Assistant Mammalogy Collections Manager Amanda Killian on finding the Free Willy star's tooth and the ever-growing value of natural history museum collections

Meet Masripithecus: Newly Described Ancient Ape Fills a Gap in Evolutionary History of Primates

An international team of researchers add a new chapter in the story of apes—including us humans—starting around 18 million years ago in North Africa

An artistic reconstruction of a herd of ancient sea cows foraging on the seafloor.

For Ancient and Modern Seagrass Ecosystems, Having a (Sea)Cow Is Super Important

A new species of extinct dugong from the Persian Gulf highlights sea cows as underwater lawn mowers protecting biodiversity

Illustration of aquatic sloths chilling by the beach next to some penguins and sea lions during a sun set

Dive Into the Weird Miocene World of Aquatic Sloths

A new paper by an international team of researchers, including NHM's Curator of Marine Mammals, Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, uncovers more secrets of aquasloths with one of the most complete skeletons ever discovered

Coyote skull in the process of being cleaned by dermestid beetles

Behind the Scenes With The Flesh-Eating Beetles Preparing Museum Specimens

Meet the smallest and possibly most gruesome members of NHM's collection staff: flesh-eating Dermestid beetles. CONTENT WARNING: Specimen preparation is metal. There are a lot of images of dead animals in different states of decay and preparation below.