Fossil Mammals: Mammals in the Limelight

This exhibition focuses on the spectacular evolution of mammals as the dominant class of vertebrates following the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Four huge murals —painted by Jay Matternes, Robert Hynes, and John Gurche—re-create scenes of animal and plant life in successive epochs of the Age of Mammals. In the foreground are various mounted skeletons of giant mammals depicted in these murals; many of the mounted skeletons were assembled from fossils unearthed in the American West by Smithsonian scientists.