Field Trip to the Peabody Museum

A few weeks ago my sister told me about her Fall List — a bunch of activities she wanted to do around New Haven and the whole state to enjoy the season; things like visiting a pumpkin patch and making apple pie. She also wanted to see museums that she hadn’t been to in a long time. The Peabody Museum sounded intriguing — I think the last time I visited was decades ago on an elementary school field trip — and we added it to the calendar.

We set off around lunchtime and walked from her neighborhood towards the museum, stopping for coffee and lunch along the way. I never realized how pretty New Haven was until my sister moved here.

I asked if we could stop at East Rock Coffee because I meant to visit here last summer when embarking on my coffee tour of New Haven. It did not disappoint.

I resisted their sweets because we were about to eat lunch, but I’ll come back just for that delicious-looking almond croissant…

Signage humor outside a hairdresser’s shop:

Entering Ivy territory…

I wanted pizza for lunch (always) and my sister recalled passing by this place — Wall Street Pizza & Restaurant. We split a veggie pie.

I’ve never met a slice of pizza I didn’t like.

Onward to our main activity of the day — a visit to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

I dig this giant squid hanging over the entryway:

There’s an exhibit called Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace on display through January 3rd, 2016. What’s significant about this culture is that starting in the 1600s, they experienced peace for around 250 years — the longest stretch that any large society has ever known.

This chart shows Japan’s Great Peace as compared to other countries over the same time period:

Onward to The Great Hall and the primary reason we came here — dinosaurs!

Turtles and crocodiles are displayed alongside these “terrible lizards” (actual origin of the word dinosaur) because they are all examples of reptiles that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs.

A leatherback sea turtle skeleton:

Next up, the Hall of Mammalian Evolution.

An excavated skeleton of a mastodon, relative of the elephant:

Skeletal remains of other extinct species like the saber-toothed cat:

Now moving on from animals to humans… this exhibit is called Fossil Fragments: The Riddle of Human Origins.

A display about headhunters in Papua New Guinea:

And ceremonial clothing worn by a Papua New Guinea tribe… the bottom of the male attire is particularly eye-popping:

Next we climbed upstairs to the Discovery Room. It’s got live specimens (poison dart frogs, New England snakes) and several hands-on activities. There’s a plastic tube system with thousands of leaf-cutter ants and a video camera zooming in so that visitors can see them up close on a monitor.

A bearded dragon lizard:

I don’t know what this horrifying creature is called. It looks like a giant pincher centipede? I’ve Googled that description (not recommended) but can’t seem to find out what this thing is called. Anyone know?

My favorite exhibit — even more so than the dinosaurs — is the Hall of Minerals, Earth, and Space on the museum’s third floor.

Earthquakes display…

Next we wandered over to the North American dioramas — great presentations of animals interacting in their natural world. I remember these from when I visited as a kid.

The Birds of Connecticut exhibit — my birding parents and aunt & uncle will have to come back here to spend an entire afternoon pouring over these displays.

Very brief display on mummification:

And I’ll end with my favorite exhibit, which is part of the Hall of Minerals, Earth, and Space (we accidentally passed by it earlier as I was distracted by the giant interactive globe) — it’s all about gems, rocks, and minerals. I found these shapes and colors mesmerizing… how nuts that nature makes this stuff? I have no commentary on these; just scroll and admire the beauty of these rocks.