The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, United States. The museum recently moved to a new location at 1105 North University Avenue, in the University of Michigan Biological Sciences Building. It opened in April 2019. A unit of the university's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the current building is located on the university's Central Campus and has 22,000 square feet of exhibit space in a building that it shares with three research museums ( Anthropology, Zoology, Paleontology).Museum Facts
University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. The University Herbarium is administered through the same organization. The natural history collections began in 1837, and for many years the museum was based in the Alexander Ruthven Museums Building, dating to 1928. The public exhibit museum was founded in 1956, and today has more than 100,000 visitors annually. The museum is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

tax-exempt non-profit organization. It employs 11 full-time staff and between 40-50 paid student docents, and has an annual budget of more than $900,000.

Exhibits

The museum has four major permanent exhibits: * The Hall of Evolution on the second floor displays exhibits on evolution and prehistoric life, including fossils, models, and

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

s of dinosaurs, ancient whales, mastodons, and other organisms. It is the largest collection on prehistoric life in Michigan. * The Michigan Wildlife Gallery on the third floor displays exhibits on birds,

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s, plants, and fungi native to the Great Lakes. There are taxidermy specimens, exhibits on habitats, and displays about regional environmental problems. A mastodon trackway, the largest on display in the world, is part of this exhibit. * The Anthropology Displays feature exhibits on anthropology, and include artifacts from human cultures around the world. * The Geology Displays on the fourth floor feature a collection of the several rocks and minerals. Two galleries display exhibits on "Evolution & Health" and archaeological research work in the U-M Museum of Archaeological Anthropology. The first floor Rotunda Lobby currently displays "The Invisible World of Mites."

Gallery

File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9066.JPG, Lobby rotunda File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9036.JPG, The Michigan Wildlife Gallery File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9028.JPG, The Michigan Wildlife Gallery File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9052.JPG, The Michigan Wildlife Gallery File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9062.JPG, The Michigan Wildlife Gallery:

Opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...

s File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9070.JPG, The Hall of Evolution: Permian Period File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9069.JPG, The Hall of Evolution: Triassic Period File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9068.JPG, The Hall of Evolution: Cretaceous Period File:Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor - IMG 9080.JPG, The Hall of Evolution:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

Epoch File:Archaeopteryx lithographica Exhibit Museum of Natural History.JPG, ''Replica of an

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

'' fossil

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Anthropology museums in the United States Dinosaur museums in the United States Geology museums in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Michigan Museums in Ann Arbor, Michigan Museums on the National Register of Historic Places Natural history museums in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Washtenaw County, Michigan University museums in Michigan University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado University of Michigan University of Michigan campus Science museums in Michigan Planetaria in the United States