Field Museum Welcomes Smithsonian Bronze Bison

Spooktacular Science: Members Halloween Lounge

WeDigBio: Chicago

Two monarch butterflies are perched atop a flower in downtown Chicago.

Cities are Key to Saving Monarch Butterflies

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Monarch butterflies have been recommended for protected status by the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Winter in Chicago—Get Outside!

Media

Remaking Akeley's Striped Hyenas Diorama

The Legacy of Black Taxidermists Continues

The Field Museum

Alligator Dissection HIGHLIGHTS!

3 Questions with a Scientist: Hopping Rats

3 Questions with a Scientist: Baby Sharks

Ask Emily! #15

Two young girls look up at a taxidermied gorilla in a glass display case. The gorilla’s head is angled such that it appears to be making eye contact with the children. A digital rail, a screen on a stand, is positioned in front of the case. In the background, large-scale photographs of objects are affixed to the wall.

Bushman the Gorilla

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A mouse perched on sticks surrounded by dried brown leaves.

Sperm Can Confirm that Lookalike Mice Are Different Species

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Meet the Pterosaur Flock

Image for Meet the Pterosaur Flock

The underside of two frogs seen through glass, on a black background. They appear to glow shades of bright blue and purple.

The Adorable Polka-Dot Frog Has a Party Side

The frogs' fluorescence is instantly visible to human eyes thanks to a black light.

Colorfully painted postcard with an aerial view of the 1893 World's Fair. There are rows of different buildings, some with tall domes, and Lake Michigan is visible in the background. The caption reads, "View from Ferris Wheel."

Travel Back to the World's Fair in Our Collection

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Photo Archives GN90799d_WFWC_01w

Five images of fossils are combined into a grid. Each fossil has text identifying it. A rounded seashell protruding from rock is labeled as an Orthospirifer brachiopod; a flat, leaf-like seashell is labeled as Strophomenid brachiopod; a circular ring in rock is a crinoid; a lacy fossil on a rock surface is a bryozoan; and a wavy depression in rock is a cephalopod.

Guide to Fossils from Tropical Milwaukee

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Illustration of a large, shell-less turtle with a rounded body and long tail, swimming underwater. The sea floor appears rocky, with some grasses.

This Turtle Had No Shell, but the First Toothless Beak

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Black-and-white nighttime photo of a jaguar walking in the forest. Its eyes are illuminated by the camera flash.

The Jaguar and Its Grandchildren

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A jaguar captured by a camera trap during the April 2018 rapid inventory. We captured a total of 10,373 camera trap photos during the inventory, of which 3,646 show mammals.

Looking down on a man holding a pipette and applying a liquid to a fossil dicynodont skull that is still partially buried in the ground.

Fossils in Zambia Are a Window into Extinction

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A colored photograph with black border, showing three tents in a row. The foreground is sandy, and the background has a few sparse trees and mountains.

Snapshot of 1896 Expedition Life

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A hand-colored glass lantern slide of camp in Somaliland, with Daniel G. Elliot (with a white beard) seated in his tent. Photo Archives CSZ5941c

A purple-pink cirrate octopus that appears to be glowing blue at its center. It has two fins off the side of the head and appears to be moving through a pitch-black environment.

Cephalopods Here, There, and Everywhere

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Painting the CARACAL

The Animal Sound Library

A large dinosaur skeleton standing on a brown surface and leaning forward menacingly, in a museum gallery

Meet SUE’s New Neighbors in the Hall of Dinosaurs

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Find Daspletosaurus in Evolving Planet.

Meet SUE's Neighbors in the Hall of Dinosaurs

A small crocodile mummy wrapped in brown cloth with the eyes drawn on, and other similar bundles in the background

Animal Mummies for Sale in Ancient Egypt

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Two women wearing headlamps peer into the mouth of a large taxidermy elephant

Q&A with a Conservator on the Complex History of Ivory

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Conservators Eugenie Milroy (left) and Stephanie Hornbeck examine the teeth and tusks of one of the Akeley elephants in the Field Museum's Stanley Field Hall

Four visitors stand together in front of two Lions of Tsavo dioramas. The leftmost visitor takes a picture of two lion skulls displayed on pedestals near the lions inside the diorama case.

Tsavo Lions

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Two photos, one of a black and white bird with a red head on a tree; one of a row of jars of museum specimens

What Woodpecker Brains Can Tell Us about Concussions

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Left: Downy Woodpecker, Arlene Koviol. Right: Field Museum wet specimens.

Illustration of a large, long-necked dinosaur on a tropical beach

New Titanosaur on the Map, Mansourasaurus

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Image credit: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Close-up of a lion with a mane and a leather and metal collar around its neck

Giving Mammals Like Tsavo Lions Room to Roam

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A lion in Tsavo, Kenya, whose movements were tracked for this study

Carl Akeley's Fighting Elephants

The 'Sistine Chapel of Taxidermy'—Conserving Akeley's Elephants

A bright green field with a large leafy tree and sheep grazing

Closing the Clam Case and Wrapping Up a Norwegian Expedition

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A brown lemur sitting in a tree, staring ahead with wide eyes.

Lemurs Are Weird Because Madagascar’s Fruit Is Weird

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Photo: Luca Santini

Lemurs Are Weird Because Madagascar's Fruit Is Weird

Collecting in Vietnam: The Search for Millipedes

Two people wearing hard hats on a boat, leaning over and examining mud on the deck

Searching for Sunken Treasure in the Fjords of Norway

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White buildings on a wooden dock overlooking the water

Chisels, Hammers, and Science: Woodworking for Clams

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A necklace made of beads and pointy teeth, resting on a wooden surface

How to Save Giant Tropical Fruit Bats

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Flying fox teeth strung into a necklace and used as currency on the island of Makira.

Lifelike illustration of a a large brown rat on a tree branch, surrounded by green foliage.

Tree-Dwelling Giant Rat Discovered in Solomon Islands

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Illustration of the new giant rat by Velizar Simeonovski.

A woman sitting at a desk with art supplies, holding a pencil in hand and drawing a nautilus

Bringing Fossils to Life Through Art

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Close-up image of small blue-ish, purple-ish tubes underwater

The Down and Dirty on a Most Unusual Bivalve

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Xylophaga wood sample

Is Taxidermy ART?

Black and white microscope image of something with hard ridges and soft fringe

Small Millipedes Impact the Earth in a Big Way

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Scanning electron microscope image of a millipede mandible.

Eggshells, DDT, Collections, and Study Design

A butterfly cocoon, and an orange and black butterfly on a purple flower.

Monarch Butterflies 101

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Two photos side-by-side: A women sitting in front of a large drill, and a bowl with a gold bracket attached to it, for display

What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Dinosaur

What's in a Shell? Strange Shells of Cephalopods

Illustration of large orange octopus; illustration from different angles of a pink speckled octopus

Cephalopods to Wrap Your Head Around

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Left: Illustration of Polypus levis (Benthoctopus levis). Right: Illustration of Eledonella pygmaea (Bolitaena pygmaea). Both images from The Cephalopoda by Carl Chun, via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

A pinkish purple octopus with a large black eye sitting on the ocean floor, with arms curled

How To Tell Deep-Sea Octopuses Apart? Check Their Warts.

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Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Coyote and Wolf Skinning

Spring Migration Notes...By a Murderer

Wolves Can Be a Bit Coy

Left: a brown, cracked skull; right: a group of people sitting on the short of a river, with two people standing and addressing the group

6,000-Year-Old Skull Could Be from the World’s Earliest Known Tsunami Victim

The Aitape skull, the 6,000-year-old cranium that scientists believe belongs to the world’s earliest known tsunami victim. 

Creepy and Crawly Centipedes and Millipedes

A skunk with a white zigzag pattern walking on a log

Spotted Skunk Evolution Driven by Climate Change

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A small rat sitting on a bright green plant, nibbling a leaf

First Mammal Extinct from Human-Induced Climate Change?

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Bramble Cay melomys

A yellowed animal skull with large canine teeth, on a white surface and backdrop

What Makes a Man-Eater? Check the Teeth

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The skull of one of the Tsavo man-eating lions.

A tray filled with elongated eggs that are white, cream and brown in color

Before the Chicken, There Was the (Dinosaur) Egg

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Oviraptor eggs (a carnivorous dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia)

Illustration of prehistoric animals in a wetland area, with a crocodile-like animal in the foreground

Early Dinosaur "Cousin" Surprisingly Crocodile-Like

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Life reconstruction of Teleocrater rhadinus feasting on a deep relative of mammals, Cynognathus. The large dicynodont Dolichuranus is seen in the background. Credit: Natural History Museum, London, artwork by Mark Witton.

Black and white dinosaur skeleton, with an inset of its small arm and hand

Image modified from Krause et al., 2007), and the inset showcasing a 3D model of the oddly reduced forelimb (image modified from Burch and Carrano, 2012.

Let's Lend These Dinosaurs a Hand

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An undersea view of bright red and white coral-like structure

“Spiderman” Worm-Snails Discovered on Florida Shipwreck

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Worm-snail habitat. Photo: Rüdiger Bieler.

Woman sitting at a table in a lab, holding a marker and writing on something small

Women in Science and Art: Rebecca Banasiak, Mammals Collections Assistant and Preparator

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Numbering small skeletal specimens that will be installed into the main mammals collection.

A woman smiling at the camera, standing in a green field with mountains in the background

Women in Science: Corrie Moreau, Evolutionary Biologist and Entomologist

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Collecting ants in the Chiricahua desert in Arizona as part of a field course Corrie helps teach each summer.

Left: Two green turtles on a log in a lake with green algae. Right: A large brown turtle with a tall shell sitting among rocks and grass.

What Do We Mean by “Theory” in Science?

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A woman, standing waist deep in water, tags an arapaima, a large freshwater fish. A man helps to hold the fish while several people in the background watch.

Women in Science: Lesley de Souza, Conservation Biologist

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Lesley de Souza, a conservation biologist in the Andes-Amazon Program, tags an arapaima fish with a radio transmitter in Guyana on South America’s North Atlantic coast.

A woman drawing on a large sheet of paper, in a forest of bright green, leafy plants

Women in Art: Peggy Macnamara, Artist in Residence

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A large T. rex skeleton on display in a museum, with people looking at it and columns in the background

Tyrannosaur Relatives of SUE

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Side-by-side of a woman seated at a desk, working on a drawing, and a close-up of an illustration of orange foxes

Women in Art: Adrienne Stroup, Geology Collections Assistant

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What Do We Mean By Facts?

Colorful illustration of a landscape with palm trees, a stream, and rhino-like animals in front of a sunset

Picturing the Past Through Scientific Illustration

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Three dinosaur skeletons with different horns on their heads, lined up in an exhibition

How Did Dinosaurs Woo Their Mates?

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Brightly colored iridescent feathers, ranging from bright blue and green to yellow and orange.

Animals

Explore this topic through the content here and the halls of the Museum.

Articles and videos

Monarch butterflies have been recommended for protected status by the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Winter in Chicago—Get Outside!

Remaking Akeley's Striped Hyenas Diorama

Exhibit Halls

Woolly Dogs

What Is an Animal? & Animal Biology

The Machine Inside: Biomechanics

Related Projects

LinEpig: Dwarf Spider ID Gallery

Fishes Dried Skeleton Collection

Fishes Collection

Amphibian and Reptile Collections

People

Janet Voight

Lance Grande

William Simpson

Ben Winger

Press Releases

This ancient plant-eater had a twisted jaw and sideways-facing teeth

It turns out, this fossil plant is really a fossil baby turtle

Chicago’s rodents are evolving to handle city living

Newly-declared conservation area in Peru is home to pink dolphins, giant armadillos, and woolly monkeys

Related Areas

Mammals

Birds

Pritzker DNA Lab

Invertebrates

Related Topics

Resources

Collections Resource Center

Mesoplodon ginkgodens

Apomys banahao

Resources

Adventure Guide: Animals

Adventures in the Herbarium: Museums and Medicines

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Being Big on Land

Events

Field Museum Welcomes Smithsonian Bronze Bison

Spooktacular Science: Members Halloween Lounge

WeDigBio: Chicago