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

American Museum of Natural History. Hall of Asian Mammals.; Asiatic Hall; Hall of Asiatic Mammals; South Asiatic Hall; Hall of South Asiatic Mammals; Vernay-Faunthorpe Hall of South Asian Mammals; South Asiatic Mammals; South Asiatic Mammal Hall; Asian Mammal Hall; Hall of Asian Mammals; Hall of Mexican Archaeology; Asian Mammals
birth: 1930
death: present
Permanent exhibition. Opened November 17, 1930. Located on Floor 2, Section 9. The Hall of Asian Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History exhibits large mammals from India, Myanmar, and Thailand in a dozen habitat groups and, similar to the Hall of African Mammals, a group of freestanding elephants as the hall's centerpiece. The hall was rearranged between 1950 and 1951 (1, 1950/51, p. 35.) Expeditions that contributed to the hall included the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (1st: 1916-1917), the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (2nd: 1918-1919), the Faunthorpe-Vernay Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (1922-1923), and the Vernay Faunthorpe Expedition (1926-1929) (1, 1917 p. 29; 1, 1922 p. 95). The Asiatic Zoological Expeditions were led by Roy Chapman Andrews and included Yvette Borup Andrews, Edmund Heller, and Harry R. Caldwell. J.C. Faunthorpe and Arthur S. Vernay funded and led their eponymous expeditions, and Museum artists Albert E. Butler and Clarence C. Rosenkranz joined them to conduct field studies (1, 1927, p. 74-75). The curator for the hall was Harold E. Anthony (1, 1957/58 p. 19). Artists for the hall's design and habitat groups were Albert E. Butler, James L. Clark, Walter Esherich, Arthur Jansson, Francis Lee Jaques, Louis Paul Jonas, John W. Hope, William R. Leigh, Robert Rockwell, and Clarence C. Rosenkranz (2, 2006, p. 169).
Plans for an Asiatic Hall appear in the 1911 Annual Report (1, 1911, p. 22). The South Asiatic Mammal Hall, as the hall was then known, was planned in conjunction with the North Asiatic Mammal Hall. After many expeditions to collect specimens, construction began in 1925 (1, 1924, p. 91-92; 1, 1925, p. 29) and the hall opened on November 17, 1930. The design of the hall features ornamentation suggestive of Asia, including bamboo designs on the windows. Between 1950 and 1951 the hall was rearranged, but the habitat groups remained the same (1, 1950/51, p. 35).
Many of the animals represented in the Hall of Asian Mammals are threatened by poaching and loss of habitat. The giant panda and Siberian tiger from its former companion hall, the North Asiatic Hall, are featured in the endangered species case in the Hall of Biodiversity as of 2017 (3).
The mammal groups in the hall include dioramas, cases, and the freestanding Asian Elephants. The full dioramas are:
Banting
Gaur
Indian Rhinoceros
Leopard
Sambar and Swamp Deer
Tiger
Water Buffalo
The habitat groups in cases with two-sides of background are:
Black Buck and Chinkara
Chital or Axis Deer
Hoolock Gibbon
Thamin or Eld's Deer
Habitat groups without backgrounds are:
Sumatran Rhinoceros
Sloth Bear
Hog Deer and Indian Wild Boar
Muntjac and Spotted Chevrotain
Four-horned Antelope and Indian Smooth Otter
Indian Lion (2, 2006, p. 169; 4)