Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals

Welcome to the Family Reunion! 

What has hair, special ear bones, gives birth to live young, and can be found in all shapes and sizes? Mammals, of course!  

Our Mammals Hall features 274 exciting mammals and dozens of fossils in a variety of environments from all around the world. 

Look for the tiny pink fairy armadillo from South America and the rare okapi from Africa, a mammal so shy scientists didn’t know it existed until the early 1900s.  

Reach into a hibernating squirrel’s burrow and feel how low its body temperature can drop. And listen to bushbabies (small primates also called galagos) calling to each other in the tree canopy of a central African woodland. 

Each provides a snapshot of life on Earth, while the Evolution Theater features an eight-minute film surveying the mammal family tree and the vast changes its members have been through in the past 225 million years.  

Online Resources

• Explore the virtual tour of the Mammal Hall.
• Search for teacher and classroom resources about mammals. 
• Watch a video about animal adaptations. 
• Play Showbiz Safari for Grades 1 – 3 to learn about animal diversity in different habitats.