Search

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
a bird skeleton
Second Floor | Exhibit

Bone Hall

Permanent
Location map

A Hall Through New Eyes

Many of the skeletons in the Bone Hall have been on view since 1881—first in what is now known as the Arts and Industries Building, and since the 1960s in their current form. The skeletons represent an unparalleled study collection of every major group of vertebrate animals.

Compare the skeletons of vastly different animals and see how they are the similar and different. Download the augmented reality app “Skin and Bones” (for Apple devices) to get a glimpse of how these specimens move and look when alive.

turtle skeleton
Did you know?

The Hall opened in 1881 as part of the US National Museum (USNM), the Smithsonian's first museum

Look For

A collection of dog and cat skeletons.
Dogs and cats: compare skeletons from a collie dog and a similarly sized cheetah
gray whale bone high on wall above other cases of bones
The massive skeleton of a gray whale (Hint: Look up!)
A skeleton of a flying fish in the Bone Hall
A flying fish, with the delicate wing-like fins that propel it out of the water
Previous
Next
An outline of a bull skeleton
Skin and Bones

Get the App!

Use the Skin and Bones app in the exhibit or from wherever you are to peer into the inner lives of animals like bats, giant sea cows, rattlesnakes and more. Meet the people who study them, ponder big ideas about the natural world and play a game or two.
Download

Experience More

An illustration of a human ancestor
First Floor | Exhibit
David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins
a sarcophagus
Second Floor | Exhibit
Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt