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Mammals Come To Life in New Museum Hall

© Eugenia E. Gratto

Washington, D.C. is home to the most-visted natural history museum in the world, and now the museum boasts a brand new mammal hall, which opened November 15. The hall restores the Beaux Arts look of this section of the museum and brings it back to its original architectural intent.

The new Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals features almost 300 animals and a dozen mammal fossils in a series of displays in the permanent exhibition. The hall itself covers 25,000 square feet of space, and the museum spent six years on renovation work and display creation. The exhibits are highly interactive, and there's even a simulated rainforest. The museum is still working on an accompanying website that will feature information and activities tied to the exhibits, but that is not scheduled to launch until Spring of 2004.

Along with the new mammal hall, there are plenty of other interesting items to explore and see at the museum. The Hope Diamond and other famous gems are on display in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals; the Dinosaur Hall shows, for the first time, an accurate dinosaur skeleton in virtual motion; the O. Orkin Insect Zoo features live insects and hands-on activities; and a special exhibit explores the museum's work hunting the famous Giant Squid.

The museum also features the Johnson IMAX Theater, which is currently featuring a range of movies including "Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees," "T-REX: Back to the Cretaceous" (in 3D), and "PULSE: a STOMP Odyssey," which is one of the newest offerings. Admission to the movies is $8 for a single movie and $6.50 per film for a combo movie ticket. Seniors and youth (ages 2-12) can get in for $6.50 for a single movie and $5.50 per film for the combo ticket. On Friday nights, the IMAX theater turns into a Jazz Café featuring live jazz music, great food and special IMAX films. There is no cover for this event, which is held in the museum's atrium. This event takes place from 5:30 to 10 p.m. every Friday night.

For more information, visit the museum's web site at http://www.mnh.si.edu or call 202-357-2700. The museum is located at 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, and is open every day (except December 25) from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. The closest Metro station is the Federal Triangle station on the Orange and Blue lines.

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