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

Bone Hall

Permanent
Location map

The Bone Hall

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.

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
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