Habitats of North America

In this Photo Gallery, explore the varied habitats of North America through our classic dioramas!

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Explore our Dioramas

Our famous dioramas, found across three large galleries on two floors, provide dozens of windows into the hidden world of wildlife. Our team of skilled artists adds new specimens every year, accurately re-creating natural habitats in painstaking detail from the smallest blade of grass to the largest walrus.

Take a tour through North America through images of our amazing dioramas, featuring a diversity of mammals and their habitats! Below, find question prompts to get students looking closer at these detailed displays-- either in these images, or during your next visit to the Museum!

snowy scene with 6 stone's sheep

Stone's sheep

Ovis dalli stonei

taxidermy diorama of beavers building dam

North American beaver

Castor canadensis

Diorama of three grey wolves howling at something in the distance in a snowy mountain landscape

Grey wolf

Canis lupus

Diorama of pronghorn in a meadow with mountains in the background

Pronghorn

Antilocapra americana

Diorama of caribou on grassy landscape

Caribou or Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus

Diorama of two grizzly bears with a lake in the background

Grizzly bear

Ursus arctos horribilis

diorama of river otters in a mossy forest

North American river otter

Lontra canadensis

Diorama of a family of black bears in Yosemite Valley

Black bear

Ursus americanus

diorama of moose with large antlers in a field with lake in distance

Moose

Alces alces

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Stone's sheep

Ovis dalli stonei

North American beaver

Castor canadensis

Grey wolf

Canis lupus

Pronghorn

Antilocapra americana

Caribou or Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus

Grizzly bear

Ursus arctos horribilis

North American river otter

Lontra canadensis

Black bear

Ursus americanus

Moose

Alces alces

Discussion Prompts for Mammal Dioramas

  • What is going on in this diorama? What do you see that makes you say that?
  • What time of day/year is it? How can you tell?
  • What features does the animal have that would be helpful in this habitat?
  • What might you hear or smell if you were standing in the location this diorama depicts?
  • Imagine you are drawing a word bubble for each animal in the scene: what might they say?

View this Photo Gallery in Google Slides