University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

Lots to see here, and free admission. We didn’t buy tickets for the planetarium show but the rest of the museum is entertaining to walk through. There’s a great animal exhibit and the prehistoric exhibits are really interesting to read over and see. The museum and the exhibits look a little dated but Natural History isn’t exactly a shimmering new field of exploration. That aside, there’s a lot of interesting information and the Michigan exhibits were really well done.
Definitely a nice spot for an afternoon date or a lazy weekend outing.

Cool museum! Love the dinosaur section. The flora & fauna section is really educational.

We went to the free Halloween party here today, and it was fun. I’d been warned that it gets pretty crazy, so we arrived at 11:45 (the party started at noon) and were able to get right in (thanks for not making us hang out in the cold). The decorations were great – plentiful and not scary. The young volunteers working the event were in costume and very friendly. One of them suggested we start with the live animals on the 4^th floor since there weren’t many people there yet. We got to hold multiple small snakes and a fat-​tailed gecko and see some big snakes, too. The floors had small stations and game areas set up (pumpkin bowling, Halloween hopscotch, etc…). We spent 90 minutes here, and by 1/1:15 the crowd was definitely large and slightly unruly, so we hit the road. It’s nice to have an educational, fun and free event like this available.
Parking in Palmer Commons lot (blue lot, «staff/​visitors») is free on Sundays, and it’s an easy walk to the museum from there: Just take the elevator to P4 and take the sidewalk up the hill on your left. Boom. You’ve arrived.

Museums usually make me incredibly sleepy. I don’t know what it is– maybe the screaming kids, faint taxidermyish smell, old people…
However, every time I felt myself drifting, something else caught my eye and whipped me back into consciousness here at this museum.
In particular, I liked the long ass 50 foot dinosaur skeleton replica hanging from the ceiling. Also, the wolverine exhibit was awesome!
This truly is a great place to burn a few hours!

This was definitely a fun stop when we were visiting family in Ann Arbor.
I enjoyed the MANY exhibits and the variety of topics that they covered. A personal fav was the planetarium show! The Museum staff member that ran it was witty and interactive. We all enjoyed that part!

I wanted to add my review when I was visiting family in Ann Arbor, but I was taking it all in, and now that I’m back home I can really say what my experience was.
I have been to many museums all around the world and this one is one of my favorites! Entrance is by donations only, so it’s nice to pay what you feel the experience was. The collection of fossils and ethnography of the Philippines was my favorite. In my career I have seen and collected fossils, and while some in the museum were familiar, they still had rare specimens!
The Ethnography of the indigenous people of the Philippines was incredible! The collection of pictures was amazing!
This place is a must when in town!

Hubby and I love to support museums and other great ways to preserve education and history. Yes, we are those people.
Before purchasing the membership, neither of us have been. The first time we went, we were pleasantly surprised by the exhibits! We spent the better part of two hours going through the cool exhibits.
They have something for everyone… multiple floors, multiple exhibits, shows, demos, etc…
We have been back… we will go again. We saw one of the planetarium shows: cowboy astronomy. Husband fell asleep but I was entertained.
We plan to go again next weekend to catch the cosmic colors show. $ 5… you cant beat it (unless they sell hot popcorn with delicious movie butter/​oil…)

U of M Museum of Natural History has some really good selection of paleontology exhibits for as small as the building is. Also, their fauna collection is outstanding.
It definitely takes longer than twenty minutes to see everything here — as one reviewer purported. I suppose briskly walking without bothering to ready anything you could do it. But seriously, what’s the point in that?
The planetarium show was engaging, and the student who gave the presentation did a great job. She seemed like she really knew her stuff.
If you’re in Ann Arbor and you have the time, this little gem is worth a visit. Oh, and if you have kids, bring’em along! The place was loaded with ‘em.

This is a long overdue review. So flash back to two years ago. It was my boyfriend’s first visit to see me and our first time going to Ann Arbor. We planned to go to this museum because my boyfriend loves dinosaurs and to eat at Blimpy’s. We were SO EXCITED! Anyway, this is a really tiny museum we were done in like 20 minutes. So much for wanting to spend the entire day in Ann Arbor (our first time and we didn’t know anyone in the city). Like someone said the planetarium hours were lame. I guess the only nice part is that it is «free”/ donations only.

Driving up to the place I said ‘Looks pretty tiny.’
And it is. But it sure packs a punch for the value! A recommended $ 6 donation and you got access to the ‘largest dinosaur collection’ in Michigan, an awesome collection of birds and bugs from our local lands, and some great interactive exhibits (we actually got to see our DNA!).
The also have this really cool Planetarium (an extra $ 5) with one of the coolest programs I’ve ever seen. Very educational and in-​depth tour by a great student who taught us about the Navajo star navigation.
Spent a good 3 hours and didn’t quite see it all but just about. Great place for kids or for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The review by Bob M. is very accurate but I must be bias because my two toddlers LOVE this place. If they see the dinosaur museum and don’t go inside we have trouble. That being said unless you are a toddler this place warrants about a half hour visit never to be bothered with again. But there is no other place where within 10min I can park my car and my kids can be running around sticking their heads inside a dino’s jaws and pointing out there favorite bones.
The Museum is super close to a bus terminal so it woud make a super exciting trip for kids to take the bus to go see the dinosars. The best parking spot is on Fletcher St. where there are coin meters. Remember free parking on Sunday.
The Museum does have a recommended donation that is enforced by a wooden box at the door. As an Ann Arbor townie and tax payer I feel it below me to donate to the very large coffers of UM who pays zero taxes.
Edit: Accidentally removed my review when attempting to remove book mark.

Small, but fun for a brief period of time. The dinosaur exhibit is the best part.
You can also see a wolverine, so you know what the UM mascot actually looks like. It’s not pretty.

So cute! I had a fantastic time looking at the sabre tooth tigers, creepy stuffed birds and ugly predecessors of man on exhibit here. Who would have thought that the UofM campus would house dinosaur bones? It was a wonderful and educational way to spend a summer afternoon. The only thing is that the museum needs more funding — it smelled weird and seemed dusty in there (probably ventilation issues).

So, I’ve lived in Ann Arbor for over 2 years, and have dated a total dinosaur freak for 2 years, and had yet to go to the Museum of Natural History until last weekend. Don’t ask how it took so long. I’m still baffled by it myself.
This museum was pretty freakin’ sweet. I love dinosaurs myself, so I was enthralled by all of the prehistoric/​extinct animals.
The boy explained to me that there used to be a huge display of Native American dioramas in the museum that were taken down. When he said that, my eyes bugged outta my head and I screeched, «WHY IN THE HELL WOULD THEY PUT AN EXHIBIT ABOUT NATIVE PEOPLE IN A MUSEUM OF NATURAL FREAKIN’ HISTORY?!» Apparently I felt the same way about the people who complained, and that’s why they took the exhibit out. I’m sorry, white Midwesterners, but deal with it. Native Americans are still alive and kicking, they aren’t extinct, and they don’t belong in a museum of NATURAL HISTORY. If it were a cultural museum or just a HISTORY museum, I could maaaybe understand that. But I was totally flabbergasted.
Anyway… We tried to go to the 2^nd floor. I was diggin’ the stuffed birds of prey (minus the owls — owls are creepy as shit). I turned a corner and saw a giant stuffed grey wolf and lost my shit and needed to leave. I love wolves; I couldn’t handle that. Then I tried to go up the stairs to the 3^rd floor and saw the giant TIGER SKIN COMPLETE WITH HEAD) hanging at the top of the stairs and high-​tailed it for the elevator. Yeah, the 2^nd floor is definitely not for me.
The 3^rd floor was really cool, because I love minerals and whatnot (I used to collect them. I was a geeky kid.). Although I did find it interesting that they took out the Native American peoples exhibit but found it perfectly acceptable to put in an exhibit about people in the Philippines, so long as they slapped a giant «Anthropology» label above it. Riiiiiiiight.
All ranting aside, the museum was pretty sweet, and I enjoyed it. Just stay away from the 2^nd floor if you can’t do stuffed animals. And I don’t mean the cute fluffy kind you get at Toys R’ Us. I’m talking the creepy kind that used to be alive. Yuck.

I went here once with my boyfriend for the Planetarium and again with my 10 year old niece. The planetarium is okay, but we almost had our show cancelled due to lack of other people’s interest. It’s informative and uses a projection screen on the ceiling as the «sky» while they point out different stars.
Cool dinosaur bones, not the largest collection I’ve ever seen, but hits the major types. I like how they have it organized and they have a LOT of information everywhere. If you wanted to stand there and read everything it would take a full day trip.
Try to not go on a hot or muggy day, the museum is pretty much MISERABLE. Bring a good camera, because you can’t get any good photos with just a plain Iphone or Droid due to the lighting (too dark).

Well, this a’int the Smithsonian. It dates back to the years following Custer’s Last Stand, and was updated once in 1963. Frankly, I’m convinced that many items haven’t been touched ever since. Thus, things can get surprisingly meta once you realize the museum is kind of a museum of an old museum.
Having said all that, I love this place and probably always will. When I was a kid, my parents took me here all the time, and it ignited a curiosity that’s fueled my soul for decades. I often think of the eerie room with dioramas showing single-​celled organisms progressively evolving into other animals, at which point I realize that it taught me everything about evolution I would need to know at age 5. Likewise, the main room’s dinosaur was the first mega-​lizard that captivated me, and the half-​buried dinosaur towards the back wall – serving as a large visual example of paleontologist’s work – is exciting for engaged children. On floor 2 there is educational taxidermy of every variety, and an awesome model of lake germs.
The giddiness is cranked up further on the 3^rd floor. Here lies the planetarium, a huge canoe that is somehow incredible in the context of a darkened room, and a 50 pound rock that once served as currency. Worry not, as the museum provides explanation for the close proximity of these seemingly unrelated gems. I’m just working from sense memory here.
I suppose as a young child my political correctness wasn’t fully developed, so I saw no problem with the incredible Native-​American dioramas on the 3^rd floor. And that’s good, because those dioramas taught me so much about tepees, tribes, Native-​American spirituality, and societies unlike my own. Even if there were some factual inaccuracies, I learned about the existence of these things. They were previously foreign to me as a young child.
But sadly, after mulling over the issue for a decade, the director decided to have them all removed. Some who found the dioramas suddenly horrific made suggestions of how to alter them, as there were worries about stereotypes and the unspoken implications that Native-​Americans are extinct. And I think that makes sense, to a degree. They should be altered to make those points clear.
But rather than investing time or resource in putting up placards or fixing the damn things, the lethargic director simply had them removed. What an unfortunate decision. When I saw those dioramas, it encouraged me to do some reading or – brace yourself – ask my parents or teacher about the details! Now some children won’t even know that said details exist to be questioned.
Part of what museums should do is spark interest, at which point facts can be sought and the diorama’s shortcomings explained. I was five when I first saw them, and I don’t think it took long to realize there’s a difference between «Native-​American» and «dinosaur.» Give people some credit, NHM.
Otherwise, I love this place and it’s actually far better than newer alternatives in the area. I’ll be taking my kids here. Hell, maybe even I can go this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong… I adore this museum. I LOVE fossils. And this place is ingrained in my soul as a fun place that my brother took me as a little kid.
Yet…It gets some stars knocked off.
As far as U of M museums go, this one is a dingy red-​headed stepchild when compared with both UMMA and Kelsey.
–Displays are always seemingly being moved about but rarely made more interesting or better.
–The planetarium is rarely open.
–The place could use the presence of a vacuum. Dust is everywhere.
–The lighting SUCKS for photography.
–And then we have the typically locked U of M wifi. Not cool.
Beyond all that, this is a great place to spend a day. Just make sure that you END with the dinosaurs. The rest is kind of ancillary, dusty, and underdone.

Wonderful museum– so kid friendly!
I went this past weekend when they featured a «behind-​the-​scenes» look at how exhibits are put together. The staff was definitely friendly and knowledgable… to the kids. They just kinda ignored my husband and I (maybe because we look like grown ups on the outside??).
Nonetheless, I still had way too much fun staring wide-​eyed at the big t-​rex and touching the «skin» of various dinosaurs. Very few exhibits there are «look with your eyes». They keep kids happy with the experiences– like an actual hollowed out canoe (to see how the Native Americans used to get around) and an evolution discovery room. And lots of little «did you know?“s along the way!

This museum will always be known to me as «The Dinosaur Museum.» I first went here on a class trip in Mrs. Sanders’ first grade class. It was here that my love of dinosaurs began (my teacher was a huge paleontology fan and went on at least one fossil dig. She was quite inspiring, and the fact that I still talk about her today says something about her as a teacher). It was here that I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist/​paleontologist. Well, that didn’t work out so much because I moved towards the discipline of sociology. Nonetheless…
This museum is perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon, and I can attest to the fact that I spent many there. It has that museum smell, you know, old bones, mothballs, and something I can’t quite place. The diversity of the exhibits is extensive and ranges from a planetarium, to The Hall of Evolution, to the Michigan Wildlife Gallery (animals and plants native to the Mitten State. [side note, Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has a whole wing devoted to fish from the Great Lakes region]) to the Anthropology/​Geology wing. I would say that this museum rivals NY’s Museum of Natural History in its sheer scope. But the dinosaur fossils are by far my favorites. How small I felt standing near a replica of a T-​Rex skull, or the full skeleton of an Aptosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus). The Archeopteryx and Pterodactyl replicas were also cool. (Side note: jeez, I hope they got rid of that *gigantic* model of a fly. That used to scare that crap out of me and I refused to enter the room in which it was placed). There was a sense of peace and comfort that I found wandering around the dimly lit halls and I got such joy out of peering through cracked doors of labs, spotting U of M faculty inspecting artifacts and fossils. Really, this is a must see stop if you’re ever in Ann Arbor.

Giant dinosaur skeletons! Planetarium shows! Cool rocks and gems! What’s not to love about the Exhibit Museum?
I find the Michigan Wildlife display to be somewhat underwhelming with its dioramas of stuffed animals. But I love the other permanent exhibits, «The Hall of Evolution» on the second floor and the Anthropology and Geology exhibits on the fourth floor.
Entry is free, but they encourage a donation of $ 6 per person. I think it’s worth the six bucks, and is an especially entertaining place to bring kids who are at all remotely interested in science.