Carnegie Museum of Natural History
One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museum of Natural History is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Many of the museum's collection specimens are from the local area, including our Botany, Invertebrate Paleontology, and Herpetology specimens. Our collections and our community often influence our work, whether that includes researching climate change, air pollution improvements from the closing of steel mills in the city, or invasive species.
Paramylodon harlani (Harlan’s Ground Sloth) are pretty different from their relatives, the modern Central and South American tree sloths.
These large herbivores roamed North America during the Pleistocene. They had bone-studded hides and sharp claws to protect them from predators.
(Photo by Hayley Pontia)
Rhodochrosite and quartz on display in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems (photo by Hayley Pontia)
Dinosaurs in Their Time and the rest of Carnegie Museum of Natural History will be open July 4th!
(Photo by Josh Franzos)
Despite being extinct, dire wolves are having a comeback thanks to the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” where they protect members of the Stark family.
Unlike dragons and black magic, dire wolves actually did exist. They lived in North America 250,000 to 13,000 years ago during the Ice Age. They had massive jaws and teeth, traveled in packs, and were the heaviest of all known wolves. They are only distantly related to the wolves that Ice Age humans began to domesticate and breed for hunting and defense between 40,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Paleontologists can’t say how dire wolves would have fared against White Walkers, but can at least confirm that they were a predator to be reckoned with in their day!
Shabtis in Walton Hall of Egypt
These totem pole carvings show two hunters in a dugout canoe. One hunter holds a
spear, while the other grips a seal, which represents the importance of living
off the land and the respect hunters have for their catch.
