Sixty-six million years ago, Earth faced its worst day in half a billion years: the impact of a massive asteroid. The event triggered tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, and acid rain, wiping out roughly 75% of all species, including the nonavian dinosaurs. A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, “Impact: The End of the Age of the Dinosaurs,” vividly recreates this cataclysmic moment – and the resilience that followed.
Life Before the Fall
The exhibit begins by immersing visitors in the Cretaceous period. A life-sized diorama depicts a brutal struggle between marine reptiles: a mosasaur attacking a plesiosaur. Nearby, a Triceratops – controversially portrayed with quills based on recent fossil evidence – tears at a tree. This reconstruction, inspired by fossils from the Hell Creek formation in North Dakota, includes other creatures like ancient turtles, early birds, and Didelphodon, a predatory mammal resembling a Tasmanian Devil. The exhibit doesn’t just show these animals; it lets you hear them, including the terrifying croak of Beelzebufo, a giant prehistoric frog.
The Impact: A World in Flames
The exhibit then plunges you into the moment of impact. A six-minute film details the asteroid’s arrival: a Mount Everest-sized rock hitting Earth with the force of 10 billion atomic bombs. The blast vaporized the asteroid, creating a heatwave hotter than the sun. Trillions of tons of debris blocked sunlight for over a year, collapsing ecosystems as plants and the animals that ate them perished. The dim lighting in this section heightens the grim atmosphere, emphasizing the scale of the destruction.
The Aftermath: Bones and Evidence
The next room simulates the immediate aftermath: the skeletal remains of once-thriving creatures, the scent of wildfires hanging in the air. Displays explain the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the asteroid theory, including the discovery of the Chicxulub crater in Mexico. A global map pinpoints the hundreds of locations where scientists have found iridium, a rare metal indicative of extraterrestrial impact. While volcanism has been proposed as a contributing factor, curators emphasize the asteroid impact alone fully explains the timing and abruptness of the mass extinction event.
From Chaos to New Life
But destruction also paves the way for opportunity. The exhibit illustrates how certain traits – like the ability to crack nuts – allowed some species to survive. Rainforests quickly filled the ecological void left by the dinosaurs, and the Age of Mammals began, leading to the world we know today. An interactive quiz reveals whether your Cretaceous counterpart perished or thrived.
A Future Threat?
The exhibit concludes on a cautiously optimistic note. While another large asteroid impact remains a potential threat, modern technology offers a chance to detect and even redirect such objects, as demonstrated by NASA’s DART mission. An interactive display lets visitors practice asteroid deflection using lasers or probes.
“Impact: The End of the Age of the Dinosaurs” serves as a stark reminder that even after total chaos, life can find a way to not only survive but thrive. The exhibit doesn’t just tell a story of extinction; it’s a testament to nature’s incredible resilience.
