‘Animals: Machines In Motion’

Discover how evolution is Earth’s greatest innovator.

Imagine if your jaws could crush over 8,000 pounds in one bite, your ears could act as air conditioners, and your arms could punch through aquarium glass. From the inside out, every living thing—including humans—is a machine built to survive, move, and discover.

Beginning Oct. 29, investigate the marvels of natural engineering in “Animals: Machines in Motion.” This interactive experience features digital media, scientific models, and real specimens.

Feel for yourself how hard a giraffe’s heart works to pump blood up to its head. Try to “fly” and study the many different ways creatures jump, gallop, slither, and swim. See technological breakthroughs—like Velcro, wind turbines, and chainsaws—that were inspired by nature’s ingenuity. And come face-to-face with a life-sized cast of Sue, the largest and most complete T. rex ever discovered. Learn about the bite force and gait of this species that ruled the world around 68 million years ago while you gaze up at this 12-foot-tall at the hip, 42-foot-long fossil.

Explore how plants and animals stay in one piece despite the crushing forces of gravity, the pressure of water and wind, and the attacks of predators. Using surprising tactics, creatures endure the planet’s extreme temperatures, find food against fierce competition, and—without metal, motors or electricity—circulate their own life-sustaining fluids.

“Animals: Machines in Motion” was developed by The Field Museum, Chicago, in partnership with theDenver Museum of Nature & Science, with generous support provided by the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust and ITW Foundation.