The Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

I happened to make it on opening day to this exhibit. TGAW, my wonderful adventuring partner, came along with me, pointing out all the most interesting parts of the displays I was too busy taking photos of to notice. I’d been eagerly awaiting the exhibit’s opening since I caught the following enticing glimpse of it months back:

North Pacific Right Whale Eubalaena japonica (Taken several months before the hall opened.)

The Sant Hall is an extremely modernized exhibit for the Smithsonian. It’s not a quiet, static display of old fossils, but a a dynamic, brightly-lit presentation, with videos projected along all the walls. One room presented a video globe showing continental drift, effects of tsunamis, and other features of Earth’s oceans. Neither TGAW nor I could figure out if the globe was animated with projectors on the outside or inside of it.

Leatherback Seaturtle (left) North Pacific Right Whale (right)

A presentation on whales, showing a progression of whale skeletons from their deer-like ancestor, to whales with legs, to our whales today makes one wonder how anyone can reject evolution. Even modern whales have hipbones, and older whales have a pair of tiny, apparently useless back legs.

Dorudon atrox (note the hind legs)

Trilobites! Trilobites! Trilobites! I had no idea there were such biodiversity within this species that, now extinct, was once one of the most populace species on Earth. No wonder flickr has a Trilobite group.

Trilobite Asaphus kowalewskii

Sometimes I get so down into the effort of cataloging everything I see, I end up forgetting the forest around me. Without TGAW, I would’ve missed the absolute coolest part of the exhibit: the GIANT SQUID. Kept in a refrigerated tank, this enormous animal stretches almost the entire width of the exhibit.

Giant Squid

It’s a fantastic modern exhibit, highly recommended. You can see the complete flickr set here.