Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

dinos

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Daniel G. And Carole L. Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs

Plan an expedition to the Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs—Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s core exhibition featuring real dinosaur fossils.

This exhibition is home to dozens of original fossils from throughout the Mesozoic Era displayed in scientifically accurate reconstructions of their ancient habitats.

Are the Dinosaur Fossils on Display Real?

About 75% of the more than 230 objects on display are original fossils from one of the finest paleontological collections in the world, and most of the exhibition’s dinosaur skeletons are real, not replicas. Several of these skeletons—including those of the iconic dinosaurs Apatosaurus louisae, Diplodocus carnegii, and Tyrannosaurus rex—are holotypes, the original specimens upon which their respective species are based.

In the many decades since the discovery of Diplodocus, scientific interpretations of dinosaurs and their lifestyles have changed dramatically. This exhibition uses up-to-date paleontological evidence—much of which has been provided by the museum’s own scientists—to accurately reconstruct the appearance and behavior of these colossal creatures.

For instance, we now know that Apatosaurus and Diplodocus (two famous long-necked dinosaurs) did not spend their lives wallowing in swamps and that predatory dinosaurs such as T. rex walked with their tails held off the ground and their backs horizontal. The three-horned Triceratops may have used its famous headgear more for display than for fighting, whereas some theropod dinosaurs (such as Anzu wyliei, the notorious “Chicken from Hell”) would have closely resembled their modern descendants—modern birds.

Dinosaur Exhibition Layout

Many museum exhibitions group extinct species according to geologic time, but this exhibition takes this concept several steps further. In this exhibition, dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals are shown in extraordinarily detailed reconstructions of their respective environments. Like the dinosaurs themselves, the habitats in this exhibition are firmly grounded in scientific evidence.

A panicked Apatosaurus smashes a small tree known from fossils found in the same Jurassic-aged rocks. A sculpted trackway of a hungry T. rex is based directly on the only known footprint of this terrifying meat-eater. The cat-sized Cretaceous mammal Didelphodon angrily confronts a much larger Triceratops. In short, in our museum’s exhibition, when dinosaur species are exhibited together, they actually lived together—their fossils are found in the same rock formations, and in many cases, the same quarries.

  • First Floor
triceratops
Visitors in Dinosaurs in their Time
herbivores in Dinosaurs in their Time

Meet our Vertebrate Paleontologists

Lamanna, Matt

Matt Lamanna, Ph.D.

Mary R Dawson Associate Curator

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sarah davis

Sarah Davis, Ph.D.

Collection Manager

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Meet the rest of the Fossil Vertebrate (Vertebrate Paleontology) Section

  • Stepping Back in Time

    Stepping Back in Time

    by Suzanne Nuss I grew up in the silent Canadian Arctic, so sounds switch me to alertness. Once alert, I pause to …
  • Jurassic Days: Icarosaurus

    Jurassic Days: Icarosaurus

    by Zach Lyons-Weiler Both visitors and staff love Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition for many reasons. For …
  • What Did Dinosaurs Sound Like?

    What Did Dinosaurs Sound Like?

    A Brief Foray into Paleoacoustics in Science and Film by Niko Borish and Caroline Lee Did Dinosaurs Roar? When you think about …
  • MESOZOIC MONTHLY: Volaticotherium

    MESOZOIC MONTHLY: Volaticotherium

    by Lindsay Kastroll Once again, spring has sprung. Prepare to see the gorgeous forests of Pennsylvania launch back into action. I, for …

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Amphibians & Reptiles

  • Second Floor

Check out the reptiles and amphibians of today while looking out over prehistoric reptiles that existed millions of years ago.

The Daniel G. & Carole L. Kamin T. rex Overlook is home to the museum’s main herpetology displays, which feature toads, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, and turtles of Pennsylvania. Learn about what makes these creatures unique, and enjoy a bird’s-eye view of an exciting scene in Kamin Halal of Dinosaurs, where two T. rexes are frozen in battle while a giant pterosaur flies above.

Though Pennsylvania has a temperate climate, it is home to representatives of most reptile and amphibian groups. Four dioramas exhibit examples of animals from our state, including an eastern box turtle, a northern leopard frog, and the venomous copperhead snake.

Red salamanders in a display case

Meet our Herpetologists

Jennifer Sheridan

Jennifer Sheridan, Ph.D.

Assistant Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles

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Mariana Marques

Mariana Marques, M.S.

Collection Manager of Amphibians and Reptiles

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Learn about the Amphibians & Reptiles (Herpetology) Collection at the Museum

The Section of Amphibians and Reptiles maintains a collection of more than 230,000 specimens and ranks at about the ninth largest amphibian and reptile collection in the United States. 

Learn about the Section of Amphibians & Reptiles (Herpetology)

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Cretaceous Seaway

  • First Floor

Step into an underwater world in Cretaceous Seaway, a unique exhibition hall that features gentle giants and fierce predators that lived underwater during the Age of Dinosaurs.

The hall brings to life the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow ocean that existed in the Midwestern United States 80 million years ago. Hanging over the entry, a massive Manitoba pliosaur closes in on its potential prey, a juvenile of the plesiosaur Libonectes morgani. The juvenile plesiosaur Libonectes is the only one of its kind, replica or otherwise, on display anywhere in the world.

Visitors can also examine the fossils of a giant turtle and a newly restored Tylosaurus mosasaur fossil skull. See a dramatic chase scene where a plesiosaur is in pursuit of a prehistoric diving bird. Look up, and see the king of the seaway—a 40-foot mosasaur swimming above. Two replica fossil fishes hang nearby.

Adjacent to Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs, Cretaceous Seaway is an extension of our blockbuster core exhibition that showcases life during the Cretaceous Period.

fossil of a giant sea turtle

Learn about the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection at the Museum

Invertebrate Paleontology’s collection contains several noteworthy phyla, including Paleozoic trilobites, Mesozoic and Cenozoic crustaceans, lower Carboniferous brachiopods, Paleozoic gastropods, Paleozoic cephalopods, Paleozoic ophiuroids, and Pennsylvanian age eurypterids. The section also has more than 12,000 primary types and figured specimens.

Learn about the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology

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Art of the Diorama

  • First Floor

Discover the craft and artistry behind Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s famous nature dioramas. Art of the Diorama is an exhibition designed to look like a turn of the century museum with mahogany furniture, a chandelier, and seven classic dioramas that were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

The dioramas feature wildlife like blue geese and aurora trout in stunning replications of scenes from nature. The dioramas were created at the height of the craft and feature detailed, hand-painted backgrounds, expert taxidermy, and scientifically accurate flora and fauna. The exhibition also features two antique “bubble-glass” commercial taxidermy pieces that were once popular in homes and parlors.

Art of the Diorama gives visitors a deeper appreciation for the museum’s dioramas and shows how museum dioramas have changed and grown alongside the conservation movement.

adult and child reviewing a museum map

Meet our Conservator

Learn about the Collection Care and Conservation at the Museum

The entirety of our collection–not just the collection we have on display like these very old dioramas–must be cared for and maintained to ensure they aren’t damaged by moisture, oils, pests, and other deteriorating agents.

Learn about Collection Care Strategies

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Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life

Traversing 4,500 years of Inuit history, learn about the Canadian Inuit and how they’ve adapted to the environmental challenges of life in the Arctic. View Inuit sculptures and prints, full-sized dioramas, and Arctic wildlife like Polar Bears, Caribou, and Walruses. Realistic dioramas and a replica igloo transport you to the arctic in this immersive hall. The hall includes an exhibit on the impact of the whaling industry in the 1930s and 1940s that includes original artifacts from whaling ships.

This exhibit was created in the early 1980s. Its purpose was to explore 4500 years of First Nations (this is the preferred term for indigenous people in Canada) history in the Arctic. Because of its age, it now contains both scientific and cultural information that is outdated. We are working to improve the language and content to better reflect the current values of the museum and the scientific advancements and knowledge we have today.

This exhibit promotes systems of oppression by focusing on a colonialist point of view. It insinuates that Europeans made things better for the people they encountered in the Arctic. European colonizers displaced Indigenous communities in North America, exploiting people and land. They violently established themselves as the dominant power and voice. Indigenous people continue to thrive in the Arctic and deserve to tell their own stories. Using the phrase, “Yesterday’s People” to describe the people of the Arctic does not convey this message. The colonizers should not be referred to as “visitors.” This downplays the violent means by which they established and maintained dominance.  

Another source of out of date information in the gallery are the maps that refer to the United Soviet Socialist Republic, which had dissolved by 1991. The tables of climate data and the maps that depict the extent of Arctic ice are also out of date. Arctic temperatures have warmed dramatically (almost twice as fast as the global average), and ice has drastically declined in association with ongoing human-caused climate change. These extreme climate changes are putting tremendous stress on the people and wildlife.

We realize that there is also problematic language used to describe the people represented in the exhibit. The term “Eskimo” is used throughout the hall to refer to those First Nations individuals encountered by the colonizers. While this is a term used in Alaska to self-designate by some people, it is most often used as a derogatory term. The preferred term in Canada is Inuit, which refers specifically to those who make their homes in the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America and Siberia.

  • Third Floor
kids playing in the igloo in polar world

Meet our Anthropologist and Archaeologist

Learn about the Anthropology and Archaeology Collection at the Museum

The anthropology collection, the Section of Anthropology and Archaeology, contains major research collections of over 100,000 ethnological and historical specimens and over 1.5 million archaeological artifacts.

Learn about the Section of Anthropology and Archaeology

Blogs about the Arctic Region

  • Arctic Message

    Arctic Message

    By Patrick McShea What happens in the Arctic effects all of us. The frozen seas of the northern hemisphere’s remotest territory influence …
  • Are Santa’s Reindeer Real Mammals?

    Are Santa’s Reindeer Real Mammals?

    by Suzanne B. McLaren Yes! Reindeer are real mammals. In fact, reindeer are the same species as caribou (Rangifer tarandus). The species is …
  • Face to face with a polar bear

    Face to face with a polar bear

    Come face to face with a polar bear in Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
  • What’s This?

    What’s This?

    What’s This: a spoon, a tongue depressor or a sled shoe? Sled shoes were made of bone or ivory and pegged to …

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Benedum Hall of Geology

  • First Floor

What shaped the Earth’s surface? How are fossils formed? What did western Pennsylvania look like millions of years ago when giant lizards roamed through our once-tropical forests? Learn the answers to these questions and more when you explore the ever-changing nature of our planet in Benedum Hall of Geology.

Three Earth-like domes highlight geological time and dating, fossils, shaping the Earth, and Pittsburgh geology. A fourth dome explores the origin, location, and economic development of coal, oil, and gas. A strong emphasis is placed on the geological processes that shaped Pennsylvania and its neighbors, Ohio and West Virginia. The Stratavator offers a simulated-elevator ride deep into the Earth.

Benedum hall of Geology

Learn about the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection at the Museum

The Section of Invertebrate Paleontology has close to three-quarters of a million fossils in its collection. Because of the special interest in the Paleozoic Era fossils by the section’s four curators and the central location of Carnegie Museum Natural History within the Appalachian Basin, the Paleozoic Era fossils make up almost half the collection.

Learn about the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology

Blogs about Benedum Hall of Geology