American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals.; Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals; Advanced Mammals; Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals
birth: 1994
death: present
Permanent exhibition. Opened June 1994. Located on Floor 4, Section 5. The Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History is one of two halls in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing of Mammals and Their Extinct Relatives, which together tell of the great diversification and sudden extinctions of this group of animals. The roots of the mammalian line reach back almost 300 million years, but the mammals featured in this hall, including both primitive and advanced species, arose after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. (1) Curators who supervised the installation of the new fossil halls include Mark Norell, Lowell Dingus, Eugene S. Gaffney, and Michael J. Novacek. (2, 1995) Supervising preparators include Jeanne Kelly and Phil Fraley. Steven Warsavage supervised the installation. (3, 1995, p. 6-10)
The 1990’s saw a complete reimagining of the Museum’s fossil halls. Instead of traditional chronologically arranged fossil displays, which the Museum had previously implemented, the new halls were displayed according to evolutionary relationships. These new halls included the Halls of Saurischian and Ornithischian Dinosaurs, Lila Acheson Wallace Wing of Mammals and Their Extinct Relatives, which includes the Hall of Primitive Mammals and the Paul and Irma Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals, the Hall of Vertebrates Origins, and the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center. (4, 1994/96, p. 5)
The Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals features extinct mammal relatives such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, camels, and giant ground sloths. This hall also includes mammals with such modern traits as the hoof, a stirrup-shaped ear bone, and eye sockets near the snout, as well as traits found in primitive mammals: the synapsid opening in the skull, three middle ear bones, and the placenta. Among the animals represented are bats, rodents, rabbits, cats, seals, bears, primates, deer, horses, whales, and elephants. The major highlights of the hall include the Warren mastodon, mammoth, saber-toothed cat, Irish elk, cetaceans, and the Evolution of Horses. (1)