During this Thanksgiving break, I had the pleasure of visiting the Natural History Museum, to see the exhibits on which our teachers worked. These exhibits were exciting and related to numerous 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first room I visited was the “Biodiversity Hall” 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 showcased several species that have become extinct over the years of history. One of these was the Dodo bird, which became extinct after 1600, as Dutch soldiers hunted it 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 showcased were endangered species, meaning species close to extinction due to none other than human activity. This reminded me of what we learned in class, where we learned that we currently live in the Anthropocene era, meaning that all life on Earth is driven by humans. Humans can choose which species die and become extinct and which species 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 the different biomes that birds live in, along with the species that lived in these biomes. Each of the habitats shown was very different, yet somehow the birds managed to live in these areas. An example of this is found in the grasslands and swamps of Argentina. The birds that live in these areas are aquatic birds, which survive by eating insects and seeds. However, birds in a place like Australia are completely different. Birds include honeyeaters, parrots, cockatoos and fruit-eating birds. In addition to that, the birds that live in Antarctica are penguins. The exhibit showcased king penguins, which live on fish and can survive intense cold, but cannot fly. What all of 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 on until the entire species has them. Take birds in Australia for example. Birds are primarily fruit eaters. So, perhaps a bird with a larger beak that made it easier to eat the fruit ended up breeding. Its 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 has this large beak and can easily eat fruit. The last rooms I visited were the “Dinosaur Rooms”. First I went to see the saurischian dinosaurs. Apparently the dinosaurs in this group were different because of their grasping hands, where the thumb was offset from the other fingers. There are branches of these dinosaurs, which include theropods (three-toed dinosaurs), tetanurans (three-toed dinosaurs), and coelurosaurs (dinosaurs with.