Geology of Manhattan Skyscrapers

On Sunday, April 3, Jasmine Bayron, Ph.D. student at the CUNY Graduate Center and American Museum of Natural History, led the MSNH on a walk through Central Park. She showed us evidence of glacial recession (which can be seen in the striations of Umpire Rock) and pointed out the erratics left behind by these glaciers. After leaving the park, we examined many small invertebrates in the fossiliferous limestone of Upper East Side buildings. Several of the fossils we observed were bivalves, brachiopods, crinoids and bryozoans.

To view more photos from our event, please visit our gallery. All photos were taken by Maurice Chen

4th Annual Symposium

On Sunday, February, 28th, The Metropolitan Society of Natural Historians hosted its 4th Annual Symposium in collaboration with the Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in the Linder Theater at the AMNH. The SRMP program provides New York City high school students with an opportunity to undertake year-long research projects with AMNH scientists making them more confident and better equipped to pursue their research interests upon entering university. The symposium consisted of 10-minute presentations by 8 researchers from renowned institutions across the tristate area including the AMNH, Princeton University and the New York Botanical Garden. Topics included understanding how fish are able to detect water currents, understanding the paleodiet of our extinct primate relatives, using jaguar scat for conservation efforts, identifying cryptic diversity of orchids and much more. With over 90 attendees, including 49 students from the SRMP program, this was our largest symposium yet! We would like to thank Dr. Mark Weckel and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant of the AMNH for assistance with organizing, Allison Bronson of the AMNH for helping with logistics, all presenters and attendees for participating, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for supporting conference participation by SRMP students.

To view more photos from this event, please visit our gallery. All photos were taken by Maurice Chen. 

Dinosaur Hall Tour at AMNH

On Saturday, January 30th, The Metropolitan Society of Natural Historians was led on a wonderful tour of the American Museum of Natural History's dinosaur exhibit, featuring the latest and largest addition, the Titanosaur spanning 120 feet long from top of the head to tip of the tail. We were led by dinosaur expert, Danny Barta who expounded on the evolution of dinosaurs, and the hypotheses concerning their end and their evolution into the birds around us today. We learned the differences between the two major groups of dinosaurs: ornithischians and saurischians and listened to Barta describe his own research on dinosaur reproduction, growth and development.

Visit our gallery to see more photos from this event.

NY Eats Bugs


On Saturday, November 21, The Metropolitan of Natural History, The New York Entomological Society, Alimentary Initiatives and The Explorers Club hosted NY Eats Bugs at The Explorers Club on east 70th street between Park and Madison Avenues. During the first half, Crickets and Cocktails, guests enjoyed a variety of hors d’oeuvres and cocktails in the library and on the terrace featuring several edible insects including crickets, mealworms, and water bugs and a special entomophagy cocktail known as Cricket Bitters. After the cocktail hour, guests gathered into the Clark room to listen to presentations given by Dr. Phil Barden, a paleoentomologist from Rutgers University and Katharina Unger, an entrepreneur in entomophagy with Baron Ambrosia, host of the show The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia, acting as the MC. The second half of the event, New York Banquet of Bugs, featured a six-course dinner prepared by chefs Natalia “Cookie” Martinez from Toronto and Mario Hernandez from The Black Ant restaurant on the lower east side.


To view more photos from this event, please visit our gallery. Photo credit to Shifaan Thowfeequ