The Chicago Natural History Museum
Like any world-class museum, the Field Museum hosts extensive fossil collections that are not open to the general public but are available for inspection and study by qualified academics. This includes not only dinosaur bones but mollusks, fish, butterflies, and birds. And just like in “Jurassic Park,” but with not at quite as high a level of technology, visitors can see museum scientists extracting DNA from various organisms at the DNA Discovery Center and watch fossils being prepared for exhibition at the McDonald Fossil Prep Lab.
Chicago’s Field Museum Got A Special Visit From Sue The Dinosaur After Closing Its Doors To The Public Amidst Coronavirus Concerns
It’s time for some prehistoric fun!
On Wednesday, the Chicago Field Museum got a visit from an unexpected visitor: SUE the Dinosaur.
As an effort to keep spirits high after closing its doors to the public amidst coronavirus concerns, the museum’s official social media account shared a video of the friendly dino on Twitter, where she can be seen checking out the museum’s “Hall of Birds” and thoroughly pursued the exhibit. In fact, her visit was inspired by the Shedd Aquarium’s penguin post that recently went viral. In it, a group of penguins were taken on a “field trip” around the aquarium, which is also temporarily closed, to meet the other animals.
“Once SUE heard about the @shedd_aquarium penguins, we really didn’t have a choice,” the Field Museum’s post reads. Paying homage to her aquatic friends, SUE can be seen excitedly running to the penguin part of the exhibit and giving the figurines a sweet wave.
In another post, the museum tweeted, “UPDATE: SUE learns birds are avian dinosaurs demands we update the Museum map to “Hall of Birds Tiny Theropods.”
Once SUE heard about the @shedd_aquarium penguins, we really didn’t have a choice.
Field Museum
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Museum Of Contemporary Photography: Best For A Quick Browse
Its easy to swing into this tiny downtown museum, part of Columbia College Chicago, and check out whats showing from the rotating permanent collection. You might see works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harry Callahan, Sally Mann, Ai Weiwei, Robert Capa or any of the other 1500 top contemporary photographers in the stash. Provocative exhibitions change quarterly and cover topics from democracy to gun violence to global migration. Its free and takes about a half-hour to view.
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Chicago Architecture Center: Best For Skyscraper Fans
Chicago is where the worlds first skyscraper popped up, and the Architecture Center has the lowdown. Galleries include a cool, interactive model of the citys famous skyline, plus supersized models of tall buildings around the world and info on the technologies used to raise them.
The centers popular boat tours depart from the docks right outside book one and you also get discounted admission to the museum.
Chicago Childrens Museum: Best For Kids
Young ones go wild in the buzzing, clanging, colorful Chicago Childrens Museum. Hands-on exhibits like Dinosaur Expedition prove irresistible to the age 10-and-under crowd. Cloud Busters 37-foot-tall structure of steel, wood and rope attracts climbing daredevils, while the Tinkering Labs real hammers, nails and other tools draw budding builders.
Bonus: the museum is located on Navy Pier, a half-mile-long wharf turned carnival with a Ferris wheel, carousel, funhouse maze and splash fountain among its many amusements, so you can make a day of it.
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Miriam And Ira D Wallach Orientation Center
The introduces visitors to key concepts presented in the Museums fourth-floor fossil halls, which display 600 fossil specimensincluding more than 250 mammal fossil specimens and approximately 100 dinosaur fossil specimens. Eighty-five percent of specimens are actual fossils, as opposed to casts or reproductions. It is also home to the life-sized cast of a 122-foot-long sauropod dinosaur Patagotitan mayorum discovered in 2014.
Chicago History Museum: Best For Local Knowledge
Did a cow really start the Great Fire? How did Al Capone make booze? Who invented the electric blues? The Chicago History Museum has the answers. It tells the city’s tale via multimedia displays and peculiar artifacts, like the bell worn by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow .
Major exhibits cover Chicago as a center for workers rights and public protest, and as the second home of Abraham Lincoln when he rose to power .
If you arrive after hours, hop on the Jaffee History Trail. The short interpretive path behind the museum has eight stops that describe Chicagos indigenous past and other topics.
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Field Museum Of Natural History: Best For Dinosaurs
Chicago’s natural history hall is home to many marvels mummies, gemstones, totem poles and 500-pound taxidermied lions, for starters. The world’s largest dinosaur, a Titanosaur named Máximo, lives in the front hall. Feel free to pose for a selfie with him though you may have trouble fitting him in the frame.
Meanwhile, Sue the T. rex and her toothy companions menace the second-floor galleries, where sensing stations let you experience how the hulking creatures sounded and smelled. Cannibal forks and meteorites likewise get their due among the museum’s 40 million artifacts.
Dozin’ With The Dinos
See the Field Museum in a whole new light! Families and groups with kids ages 6 to 12 can spend the night at the museum during Dozin with the Dinos.
Stay up late with museum scientists and enjoy activities like dissecting owl pellets and learning the steps of Egyptian mummification. Then, switch on your flashlight and explore your favorite exhibitions, including the Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet, like never before. Youll also have a chance to see some of the Fields special exhibitions open during your session.
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Journey Through A History Of The Earth
Right around the corner from the upstairs exhibit on Sue is the exhibit that I enjoyed most. It is called the Evolving Planet, and it traces the history of Earth from 4 billion years ago through the six mass extinctions that are known to man.
The exhibit starts with the formation of bacteria, and includes what the museum calls the the oldest known fossil of a Eukaryote . Another highlight of the early part of this exhibit is a neat video of what life underwater during the Cambrian period might have looked like.
Check out the fossils of the Tully Monster, a soft-bodied animal from 300 million years ago that has only been found in what is now present-day Illinois. It was a bit like a cuttlefish, apparently. I was disappointed a bit because even though it is called a monster, the museum says it is supposed to have grown only to about 14 inches long. Not much a monster at all.
Those sections of the exhibit were interesting, but then comes the great dinosaur hall with what appeared to samples of just about every major dinosaur you ever heard of. Plan on spending some time here because the fossils are really great, and the museum does a good job in explaining what each animal was.
The exhibit ends on a bit of a sad tone, noting that we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction that started 10,000 years ago and detailing some of the animals that have been lost.
Chicago Museums With Dinosaurs
The following attractions offer exhibits with dinosaurs and fossils.
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago is home to the best dinosaur museum in the world. In fact, the Field Museum has the largest and most comprehensive dinosaur collection in the world.
Of course, most visitors come to the museum to see its most notorious exhibit, SUE. As the Field Museums token attraction, SUE is the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever recovered. The skeleton is over 90 percent real and costs $8.4 millionit was the most money ever paid for a fossil at auction.
Budget Tip: Whether youre a local or a tourist, the most affordable way to visit Chicagos museums is with the Official Chicago CityPass. Passholders save a ton of money and are granted access to five attractions including Shedd Aquarium, Skydeck Chicago , Field Museum, and two of the following attractions: Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, 360 Chicago Observation Deck , or Adler Planetarium. Check out our experience with CityPass in Chicago.
The Field Museum has three permanent dinosaur-related exhibitsthe Evolving Planet, the Genius Halls of Dinosaurs, and the Máximo the Titanosaur replica in the Main Hall. Be sure to stop and observe the Fossil Prep Lab, where visitors can watch paleontologists prepare real fossils for further study.
Burpee Museum of Natural History
Fun read: Theres a T-rex cactus hidden in the Arizona Desert.
Daves Down to Earth Rock Shop
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Houston Museum Of Natural Science Houston Texas
dinosaur museum
Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the most popular dinosaur museums in the United States. The museum has over 120,000 square feet of exhibition space and offers an extensive collection of fossils, artifacts, and specimens from all over the world. The museum also has a research department that is dedicated to studying the biology and evolution of dinosaurs.
Arizona Museum Of Natural History
dinosaur museum
Visit the Arizona Museum of Natural History the only natural history museum in Phoenix to go on an adventure in paleontology. This museum is home to Dinosaur Mountain, where guests can experience a realistic Mesozoic Era set-up with animatronic dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are the stars of the show, and the museum even has live-action flash flood effects every 30 minutes for a realistic dinosaur world experience!
The museums natural history exhibits include a Dinosaur Hall with fossils of various dinosaurs, such as theropods and sauropods. When you visit the museum with your family, youll have a fun time in Arizona.
Tickets: starts at $6.50 , $3.50
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Museum Of The Rockies Bozeman Montana
Best dinosaur museum
The Museum of the Rockies is a world-renowned museum that is located in Bozeman, Montana. The museum has a collection of over one million fossils, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive dinosaur museums in the United States. The museum also has a wide variety of exhibits that focus on different aspects of dinosaur life, from anatomy to behavior. The Museum of the Rockies is a must-visit for anyone interested in dinosaurs, and it is also a great place to learn about the history of Montana and the Rocky Mountains.
Dive Into The Jurassic Periods Extraordinary Underwater Environment
Chicagos array of world-class museums and attractions never fail to impress with frequent exhibitions and events announced each year. Over the last couple of years weve been treated to exhibitions on historys most famous artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, to interactive cinematic exhibits like , and arbor-inspired outdoor spectacles like Human+Nature.
The Field Museums latest exhibit will delight local dinosaur fans and anybody interested in the Jurassic period.
Opened on Friday, February 25th, Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep takes visitors on an underwater journey where they can encounter some of the most fascinating, fierce, and strange creatures that dominated Earths Jurassic seas while dinosaurs ruled the land.
Dive into the prehistoric oceans home to massive marine reptiles in our new special exhibitionJurassic Oceans.
Swim alongside these #MonstersOfTheDeep on February 25.
Field Museum
It features over 100 fossils ranging from enormous marine reptiles to small, stranger creatures as well as huge replicas and CGI projections that offer visitors the chance to come face-to-face with some of historys most terrifying marine predators to have ever existed.
These include a true-to-life replica of a speedy reptile called an ichthyosaur, the skeleton of a long-necked plesiosaur, and a gigantic fossilized tail of one of a leedsichthys one of the biggest fish ever discovered.
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About The Field Museum
For dinosaur fans, the centerpiece of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is “Evolving Planet.” This is an exhibit that traces the evolution of life from the Cambrian period down to the present day. And as you might expect, the centerpiece of “Evolving Planet” is the Hall of Dinosaurs, which boasts such specimens as a juvenile Rapetosaurus and a rare Cryolophosaurus, the only dinosaur known to have lived in Antarctica. Other dinosaurs on display at the Field include Parasaurolophus, Masiakasaurus, Deinonychus, and dozens of others. After you’re done with the dinosaurs, a 40-foot aquarium harbors reproductions of ancient aquatic reptiles, such as Mosasaurus.
The Field Museum of Natural History was originally known as the Columbian Museum of Chicago, the only remaining building from the gigantic Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, one of the first truly world-sized World Fairs. In 1905, its name was changed to the Field Museum, in honor of department store tycoon Marshall Field. In 1921, the museum moved closer to downtown Chicago. Today, the Field Museum is considered one of the United States’ three premier natural history museums, alongside the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. .
Houston Museum Of Natural Sciences
dinosaur museum
Were excited to see the animatronic dinosaurs at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences!
The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences Dinosaur Discovery exhibit is where youll find lifelike animatronic dinosaurs. You can also explore a 3D experience in the museums Dinosaurs Alive IMAX Theater. Theres plenty to do at this top dinosaur museum in Houston.
Tickets: starts at $25 , $16
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Brunk Childrens Museum Of Immigration At The Swedish American Museum
This is the nations first childrens museum devoted to the topic of immigration, with hands-on interactive exhibits that focus on the Swedish immigrant experience. Youll find it located on the third floor of the Swedish American Museum, in the heart of Chicagos charming Andersonville neighborhood. Interactive exhibits give kids the chance to experience immigration firsthand, with features such as a replica of a century-old Swedish farmhouse, and a 20-foot immigrant steamship that replicates the journey to America.
Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark St., Andersonville
Dusable Museum: Best For Black History
The small, Smithsonian-affiliated DuSable Museum gets overlooked among Chicagos collections, and thats a shame because it has a powerful story to share. Learn about African Americans experiences from enslavement through to the Civil Rights movement and about race relations in the city.
Then see what high-tech visiting exhibits are here, such as a virtual reality immersion into the 1963 March on Washington. Advance reservations are required.
Outside the museums sculpture garden opens up into huge, willowy Washington Park.
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Sue Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaur
Sue is the largest, most extensive and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found, at over 90% original. It was discovered in 1990 by Sue Hendrickson, an explorer and fossil collector, and was named after her.
This fossil was auctioned in 1997, for US$ 8.3 million, the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil, and is now a permanent feature at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
The largest Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaur specimen discovered, Sue has a length of 12.3 meters , stands 4.0 m tall at the hips, and has been estimated at between 8.414 metric tons as of 2018.
Displayed separately from the body, the skull weighs 272 kg .
During 1990, Sue Hendrickson decided to explore the nearby cliffs, and as she was walking along the base of a cliff, she discovered some small pieces of bone.
She looked above her to see where the bones had originated and observed larger bones protruding from the wall of the cliff.
She returned to camp with two small pieces of the bones and reported the discovery to the group of workers she was part of, from the Black Hills Institute. It was determined that the bones were from a T. rex by their distinctive contour and texture.
The Black Hills crew and Hendrickson began to uncover the bones, and they discovered that much of the dinosaur had been preserved. Previously discovered T. rex skeletons were usually missing over half of their bones.
The Field Museum Chicago
dinosaur museum
The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is one of the worlds foremost museums of natural history, with a collection that spans over 30 million specimens. The museum has a distinctive dinosaur exhibit, which is the largest and most comprehensive collection of dinosaurs in the world. The museum is also home to a number of other notable exhibits, such as the Henry Ford Museum of American History and the Regenstein Library.
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Royal Tyrrell Museum Of Palaeontology Drumheller Alberta
Best dinosaur museum
The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, is one of the worlds leading museums dedicated to the study of dinosaurs. The museum has a vast collection of fossils, including the only complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. The museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
How Much Does It Cost To Visit The Dinosaur Museum
How Much Does it Cost to Get In?
The Dinosaur Museum in Chicago is a fascinating place to visit for anyone interested in dinosaurs. Admission is free for all visitors, and the museum is open from 9am to 5pm every day.
The museum has a wide variety of exhibits covering everything from the earliest dinosaurs to the most recent ones. It is worth noting that the museum is quite large, so it may be difficult to see everything in a single visit.
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Since announcing that it would be closed to public temporarily, the Field Museum has been using social media as a means to connect with fans during this period of social distancing. To encourage families to continue their quest for knowledge, the museum has been bringing the learning fun to Twitter with #MuseumFromHome.
Like the Field Museum, The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has also made staying connected super easy and fun. On Monday, it launched its , which aims to provide educational entertainment for young animal enthusiasts that have been affected by school closures. For its inaugural episode, fans got some 1-on-1 time with the zoo’s most famous residentFiona the Hippo.
Taking to social media to tease its first Home Safari Facebook Live, the Cincinnati Zoo posted a picture of Fiona in her habitat and wrote, “While the Zoo is closed, we can still help your children’s hiatus from school be fun & educational! Join us for a Home Safari Facebook Live each weekday at 3pm where we will highlight one of our amazing animals and include an activity you can do from home.”