During this Thanksgiving break, I had the pleasure of visiting the History Museum Natural, to see the exhibitions created by our teacher. These exhibits were exciting and related to many of the topics we talked about in class. In this essay I will talk about what I saw and how it relates to what we learned in class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first room I visited was the “Biodiversity Room” on the first floor. The room highlighted both biodiversity and the factors that threaten it. There was a huge diorama showing part of the Dzanga-Sangha rainforest, which was apparently one of the “most diverse ecosystems on Earth.” They also showed several species that have become extinct over the years of history. One of them was the Dodo bird, which became extinct after the year 1600, as Dutch soldiers chased it away soon after its discovery. Because of all this hunting, deforestation and destruction of their nests by the Dutch animals, they simply could no longer survive in their environment and became extinct. Another thing they showed was endangered species, which are species that are on the verge of extinction due to human activity. This reminded me of what we learned in class, where we learned that we are currently living in the Anthropocene era, meaning that all life on Earth is led by humans. Humans can choose which species die and disappear, and which species can thrive and survive. They are altering our biodiversity by killing these animals. The second room I visited was the “Birds of the World” exhibition. In this room, there were several dioramas showing different biomes that birds live in, as well as the species that lived in those biomes. Each of the habitats presented was very different, but somehow the birds managed to live in these areas. The grasslands and marshes of Argentina are an example. The birds that live in these areas are waterfowl, which survive by eating insects and seeds. However, the birds of a place like Australia are completely different. The birds there are honeyeaters, parrots, cockatoos and birds that live on fruit. To add to this, the birds that live in Antarctica are penguins. The exhibit notably featured king penguins, which live on fish and can survive the harsh cold, but cannot actually fly. What all this reminded me of was the concept of evolution. Over millions of years, a species will adapt to its environment and the animals with the strongest genes will survive and continue to reproduce. The traits of these animals will be passed down until the entire species possesses them. Take for example the birds of Australia. The birds there are mainly frugivores. So, perhaps a bird with a larger beak that made it easier to eat the fruit eventually bred. His offspring would also have a large beak. This bird would reproduce and its children would reproduce. This would continue to happen until, millions of years later, the entire species now had this large beak and could easily eat fruit. The last rooms I visited were the “Dinosaur Rooms”. First, I went to see the saurischian dinosaurs. The dinosaurs in this group were apparently different because of their gripping hands, where the thumb is offset from the others.