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Armored Animals

On view Oct. 5, 2024 - Jan. 5, 2025*

Dive into the history of animals connected by their use of armor.

Armored Animals invites guests to experience an immersive tour through the last 500 million years of armor evolution. Explore impressive artifacts, including evolutionary necessities like defensive plates and highly ornate spiny displays, casts from animals like fish and dinosaurs, giant insect sculptures, a 30-foot skeletal replica of the giant crocodilian Deinosuchus and more to illustrate the evolution of armor found in the animal kingdom. This exhibit also explores how humans have adapted the use of armor, including helmets and armored suits, to demonstrate the ways early warriors sought to capture the incredible defensive power that animals possess.

Exhibit Highlights

  • Rarely seen displays of armored dinosaurs.A full-scale skeletal replica of the giant crocodilian, Deinosuchus.
  • The skull of the “super croc,” Sarcosuchus.
  • One of the largest collections of ankylosaur skulls and skeletal casts ever assembled.
  • Dozens of pieces, including dinosaur casts, insect sculptures, skeletons of extinct armored reptiles, and a giant ice-age tortoise.
  • An exploration of invertebrates, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, dinosaurs and mammals that rely on armor for survival.

Armored Animals is designed and developed by Gaston Design.

Sponsored locally in part by the Frances Wood Wilson Foundation.