THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



SOUTHEAST WING 

 HALL OF THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



The skeletons in this and the adjoining halls are those 

 of extinct mammals, most of which have been buried for so 

 long that they have become petrified. In a few instances, 

 however, such as the great Irish deer and mastodon, the 

 skeletons are not petrified, and their present good condition 

 is due to their complete burial for ages in peat bogs, in the 

 frozen soil of northern Alaska or in deposits of asphalt. 18 



To give the visitor a clear idea of how these extinct crea- 

 tures appeared in life, many of the skeletons have been 

 removed from the matrix in which they were found, and 

 have been mounted in lifelike attitudes; their probable 

 appearance and habits are illustrated by water-color 

 restorations, plaster models and descriptive labels. The 

 arrangement of the specimens is intended to show the his- 

 tory or evolution of different races of animals, chiefly in 

 North America. 



In the first right-hand alcove is the largest and finest 

 series of fossil skeletons, illustrating the Evolution of the 

 Horse, 19 possessed by any museum. Beginning with the 

 earliest known ancestor of the horse, Eohippus, three hands 

 (twelve inches) high, with its four complete toes on each 

 fore foot and three on each hind foot, the successive stages 



18 Animals of the Past .35. 



19 Evolution of the Horse .20. 



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