A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation to attend a private viewing of Extreme Mammals; the latest new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Of course, there is no way I was going to turn down an invite to see anything labeled “extreme” – especially when it included free drinks! Yes! As part of the evening’s festivities, we were treated first to a wine tasting party (with snacks) held in the museum’s Hall of Ocean Life – the massive, bi-level exhibit room distinguished by the 94 feet-long model of a Blue Whale suspended from the ceiling. Extreme!

After an hour of heavy drinking, many of us staggered off to find the featured exhibit, located on the fourth floor. “Extreme mammals, please!” I announced to the elevator operator, so he would know where we were going; even though it was after hours, the museum was closed, and we really could only have been going to one place.

This is What a Whale With Legs Looks Like

The Extreme Mammals exhibit boasts, “the biggest, smallest and most amazing mammals of all time,” almost all of which are now extinct, so you are really not going to see them in a zoo.  Made up of fossils, bones, models and various recreations, the exhibit includes a lot of required reading (Extreme!). So, even though it was fun to be drunk while viewing the various mammals and their extremeness, I would not recommend being so ‘out of it’ that you forget how to read, because then you would miss out on a lot

This Dude Was My Favorite

Extreme Mammals  runs through January 3, 2010 at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street, NYC.