Smithsonian Museum of Natural History: The Cenozoic Era in 3 Acts, ACT 3: Diorama Dino-mite!

 With all of its incredible modern design elements and multi-level viewing opportunities, its hands on brass models, and life-like staging of reconstructed skeletons, even with the infor graphics and audio-video opportunities; at the end of the day, it is the "old school" diorama that calls to me like the Siren's song!  Still a mainstay of book reports and science projects, the diorama demands our attention, and then rewards us according to our patience--at least the good ones do!  Because the good ones are made by people who understand their power to delight.  A power that is enhanced by every single little unexpected detail and "hidden" component.   These Diorama are set into oval portals--sci fi perfect time transporters that hold two powers simultaneously.  One gives you a glimpse of a lost world, and the other sparks a memory from your childhood.  

I will cluster them according to their titles.

"A Warmer, Wetter World"

Trapped in mud, the Mammoth bellows in fear and frustration.

The exquisite details of leaves and ferns and a turtle for the keen eyed visitor.

"A Colder and Drier Time"

The pack of Dire Wolves Chooses a "light" meal.

An ancient cousin to the modern wolverine brings dinner to her young.

Had you not followed their gaze, the well camouflaged prehistoric rabbit might have gone unnoticed.

"Grasslands Far And Wide"

Ancestors of Modern Horses race across the hillock catching the attention of a Baluchitherium, one of the largest land mammals of the Miocene Epoch.

What hoe?  Another turtle!

Dinohyus were not really pigs nor were they dogs.  They were their own thing, and now they're gone.

"Jungles Rise With The Mammals"

This diorama was oriented vertically to take you high into the arboreal world.

On the forest floor a mother Uintatherium and her calf forage with a...wait for it..turtle! looks on.

Looking up we see the mighty trees' limbs are home to arboreal mammals with prehensile-tails, the forbears of the Primates.

So beautifully crafted that it's hard to tell exactly where the 2-D background and the 3-D foreground meet!  A Diatryma calls out while a little 'herd' of Eohippus traverses the bed of ferns.