During your visit to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, the core exhibition will take you on a journey through the natural history of New Mexico from the formation of the universe to the present. Other museum displays offer a rich variety of things to do and see. Be sure to stop by the NatureWorks Discovery Store to shop for gifts and keepsakes unique to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science and New Mexico.
Timetracks
Chronicling the natural history of New Mexico is Timetracks, the New Mexico museum’s core exhibition. Discover the beginning of the universe in Origins as you touch a meteorite, examine some of Earth’s oldest rocks and see fossils of some of the most ancient life on the planet. Explore the only Triassic Hall in America, Dawn of the Dinosaurs features New Mexico’s state fossil and one of the very first dinosaurs, Coelophysis. Spanning from 202 million to 144 million, Age of Super Giants invites visitors to witness the two super giant dinosaurs, Seismosaurus (New Mexico's longest dinosaur) and Saurophaganax (the largest Jurassic meat-eating dinosaur) locked in combat. In New Mexico's Seacoast hall, discover a time when New Mexico was covered by inland sea. Highlights in New Mexico’s Seacoast include a living tropical forest and fossils of marine animals, birds, early mammals and dinosaurs. Travel deep into an active volcano in Age of Volcanoes, a display that allows you to explore the volcanic activity in New Mexico during the Paleogene and Neogene periods. Trace the changes in landscape, plants and animals in the 60 million years following dinosaurs in Evolving Grasslands where fossils, footprints and murals document the changes that occurred as New Mexico began to acquire its present appearance. In The Cave you can discover how caves form, spot strange mineral formations and learn about the animals found deep underground. Showcasing the evolution of New Mexico from the Ice Age to the present, New Mexico’s Ice Age exhibit explores animals from the Pleistocene Epoch including wolves, mammoths, saber-tooth cats and New Mexico’s last camel.
Other Permanent Exhibits
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science’s other permanent exhibits explore our planet, its life and cultures. Discover how and why life on Earth emerged in Emergence: A New View of Life’s Origins. STARTUP is the first museum exhibition dedicated to the history of the microcomputer. Discover how microcomputers have changed the way the world lives, works and plays through artifacts, video and interactive displays. In the hands-on Naturalist Center, touch specimens and explore the natural world of New Mexico. FossilWorks lets you get a first-hand look at the painstaking process of paleontological preparation.
Shopping in NatureWorks Discovery Store
NatureWorks Discovery Store offers a unique shopping experience for all visitors. Located just inside the museum entrance, you are sure to find the perfect gift or keepsake to remember your time at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.
- In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science features temporary exhibitions from across the country and around the world.
- Spike, a Pentaceratops, and Alberta, an Albertosaurus, created by Albuquerque sculptor Dave Thomas will greet you upon arrival to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.