Permanent Exhibits

The Museum’s permanent exhibits help visitors of all ages discover the nature of their universe. With its exceptional exhibits and collections, the Museum is regarded as one of the finest natural history museums in North America. Permanent exhibit galleries deal with ecology, evolution, dinosaurs, anthropology, cultures, insects and more. Here are a few of the Museum’s icons:

Lucy		Lucy – Australopithecus afarensis An international team of scientists, including a former Museum curator, discovered the partial skeleton of 3.2 million-year-old "Lucy" in 1974. Formally known as Australopithecus afarensis, the remains of this species of human ancestor have provided valuable clues as to when and why humans began to walk upright and evolve larger brains. Visitors can see a cast of the original skeletal materials and reconstruction of what Lucy’s full skeleton might have looked. The original bones were returned to Ethiopia.
Steggie		Steggie – Stegosaurus  The friendliest dinosaur around, this life-sized Stegosaurus sculpture created by Louis Paul Jonas has welcomed visitors to the Museum since 1968.
Balto		Balto The heroic 1925 diphtheria serum run, transported by relayed teams of dogsleds, is remembered with the Museum's permanent mount of Balto. More info...
Happy		Happy – Haplocanthosaurus delfsi Our Late Jurassic sauropod "Happy" is the holotype of Haplocanthosaurus delfsi and the only known adult specimen of this dinosaur complete enough to display in its entirety. Nearly half the bones in this 70-foot-long, 14-foot-high mounted skeleton are actual fossil material. The 6-foot-4-inch femur (thighbone) is the oldest displayed anywhere in the world.
George Bald Eagle		Wildlife The Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden The Perkins Wildlife Center and Woods Garden celebrates Ohio's wild animals and plants in a 2.2 acre outdoor gallery adjacent to the Museum. Visitors can see Bald Eagles, owls, deer, foxes, bobcats, hawks and other creatures in enclosures designed to resemble their natural habitats.
Foucault		Foucault Pendulum One of the first exhibits Museum visitors see is the Foucault Pendulum, which visually demonstrates the Earth’s rotation. The pendulum appears to move slightly clockwise each time it swings; it comes full circle every 36 hours. Museum staffers place a ring of dominoes and other small markers beneath the pendulum for it to knock over on its circular journey. More info...

Dunk – Dunkleosteus terrelli

This fearsome, 16-foot-long armored fish with huge, self-sharpening jaws is a native Clevelander from way back. Fossil remains of the 360 million-year-old fish were found in the shale of the Rocky River Valley. Dunkleosteus ("Dunkle’s bones") is named for former Museum Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Dr. David Dunkle.

Coelophysis bauri

Our oldest (225 million years old), yet newest dinosaur acquisition is from the Late Triassic Period. At that time, hundreds of Coelophysis bauri individuals died together during a single cataclysmic event. Their remains eventually formed a massive bonebed at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. A block quarried from the bed came to the Museum. Our mount – a composite of about 32 skeletons – went on display in 2001 after 11 years of painstaking preparation. It is the most complete mount of its kind in the world.

Nano – Nanotyrannus lancensis

The Museum possesses the holotype of this small Late Cretaceous tyrannosaur. Controversy persists over whether it is a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex or an adult of a pygmy tyrannosaur species.

Johnstown Mastodon

This prehistoric elephant became extinct more than 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age. Its skeleton was unearthed in Johnstown, Ohio, in 1927. It is exhibited opposite the mounted skeleton of a mammoth, its fellow Ice Age inhabitant.

Planetary Odyssey

This interactive display features actual footage from NASA space missions projected onto a large viewing monitor. Your "spacecraft" can take you to planets and moons in the solar system. Launch a probe to see the landscape below while you learn about the celestial object you’re "visiting."

Moon rock

This 253-gram specimen is part of a larger sample taken from the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. It crystallized in a vast lava sheet 3.3 billion years ago in the Ocean of Storms region. On loan from NASA.

Hanna Star Dome

The Hanna Star Dome was the Museum’s – and the state’s – first planetarium. It was built in 1936 and installed in the Museum’s original location on Euclid Avenue. The Hanna Star Dome became one of the signature displays in the Reinberger Hall of Astronomy when it opened adjacent to the Shafran Planetarium in 2002. A fiber-optic lighting system displays the brightest stars in the sky for each month of the year.

Birds of America by John James Audubon

Of prime importance in the rare book collection is the double elephant/folio edition of Birds of America by John James Audubon.  These hand-colored engravings were published in London between 1827 and 1838.  Fewer than 200 full sets were bound and distributed.  The elephant/folio is prominently displayed in a glass case in the Library.