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Daring Dioramas

Pre-Visit & Post-Visit Slides

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Table of Contents

Click on the section you’d like to jump to below!

1. Intro to the Diorama Halls
2. What is a Diorama?
3. What is Taxidermy?
4. Post-Visit

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Vocabulary

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Intro to the Diorama Halls

Where are we headed? What will we be doing?

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Introduction

The information in the following slides is intended to provide context for your upcoming trip to the Museum or your virtual exploration of some of our diorama halls

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After your exploration, you may use the lesson plan and post-visit resources to continue making connections by building dioramas in the classroom with your students and transforming your own classroom into a Natural History Museum.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

The Diorama Halls

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

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

What is a Diorama?

A diorama is a model representing a scene.

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Let’s learn about the dioramas at the Natural History Museum.

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Dioramas

A diorama is a model representing a scene, typically using three-dimensional figures, either in a miniature sized project, or as a large-scale exhibit. You can find dioramas at museums like The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM). Dioramas are featured at NHM in exhibition halls like North American Mammal and African Mammal Halls, among others.

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At the Natural History Museum, you will be able to explore many examples of dioramas with animals in their habitats from all over the world.

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Dioramas

Many of the dioramas at NHM and other Natural History Museums display an ecosystem or habitat, depicting a complex web of interactions between living things like plants and animals and their surroundings. It can highlight animals with specific traits that help them survive in their environment. For example, dioramas often include elements like water sources, weather conditions, and geographical features that play crucial roles in sustaining the habitat's flora and fauna (plants and animals).

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Dioramas

At the Museum, our dioramas use a wide range of materials. In them you might see lifelike preserved animals known as taxidermy in front of a backdrop of painted scenes, real and fake foliage, detailed structures made by artisans to recreate an environment and more!

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

What is Taxidermy?

Taxidermy is the art of preparing and mounting the skins of animals with lifelike effect.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Taxidermy

People who do taxidermy use art and science to bring nature to life.

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Taxidermy is a way to preserve an animal for display or study. There are many different ways to do taxidermy, but they usually involve “mounting” an animal's skin on a fake body or form. The word taxidermy comes from the Greek words taxis (which means “arrangement”) and derma (which means “skin”).

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Taxidermist on the Job

Taxidermy is both an art and a science! Taxidermists must be precise, creative, and patient as they carefully prepare an animal to be taxidermied.

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They measure an animal and use these measurements to help them create their taxidermied specimens. They are artists, who must find the right colors, patterns and textures to recreate the life-like qualities of animals. They sculpt scientifically accurate forms or shapes to mount their skins. To do all this they need the artistic skills to craft but also need to learn animal anatomy, behavior, and the ecology of different places to create realistic representations of animals and their surroundings in a diorama.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Taxidermist on the Job

Watch this short video of taxidermist Tim Bovard tell us a bit more about his job and taxidermy at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Diversity in the Field of Taxidermy

There are taxidermists from many different backgrounds who have made huge contributions to the art of taxidermy in Natural History Museums around the world. You can watch a video on one below. Research another taxidermist or museum professional and present their biography to the class in a format that makes sense to you (maybe a poster, book, or video). How did they make an impact in their field?

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Why are Dioramas important?

Dioramas tell stories. Dioramas help us learn about a wide range of animals, from common to rare, endangered, and even extinct species. They help promote conservation awareness by highlighting different animals' importance in their ecosystems and illustrating the impact of human activities and climate change on their habitats. Natural History Museums didn’t always use dioramas to display or highlight animals in their habitats. Specimens were displayed in neat rows by groups of animals to which they were most closely related. Birds with other birds, mammals all together and so on.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Compare & Contrast

What do you notice about these two exhibits or displays? How are they similar? How are they different? What are some advantages of one display style over the other?

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Animals of the Past and Present

Take a look at the animals that we can study and observe today with the art and science of taxidermy.

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is native to the Arctic and its surrounding areas. It is the largest living species of bear and land carnivore, with adult males weighing between 600-1700 lbs and between 8-10 feet in length. Its population is currently decreasing and made vulnerable by the effects of climate change. Polar bear populations may decrease by two-thirds by 2050 due to diminishing Arctic sea-ice habitats impacting their access to vital resources and shelter. This polar bear can be seen in the North American Mammal Hall at NHMLA.

The great auk (Alca impennis) lived in the North Atlantic, and unfortunately lacked a fear of humans, which made it easy hunting for its feathers, flesh, and skin. It was last seen in Greenland in 1815, and Newfoundland in 1840. The last specimen was believed killed in 1844 on the island of Eldey, where the final colony of birds had fled following a volcanic eruption at their former Iceland home.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Virtual Visit

Explore the halls virtually with your class! Click the text below to be transported our Mammal Hall photo galleries.

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North American Mammal Hall Photo Gallery

African Mammal Hall Photo Gallery

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Post-Visit

Resources for continued learning and exploration

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Discussion Questions

1. What habitats were represented? What did you notice about a specific diorama or overall?
2. What traits or adaptations do plants or animals have to survive in their habitat?
1. Museum connection: Compare the types of plants you saw in a desert habitat to the plants you saw in a rainforest habitat.
3. How do animals adapt to their habitats to survive?
• Museum connection: Name an animal you saw at the museum, and describe a trait that helps it survive in that environment (e.g. blubber on a walrus in an Arctic habitat).
4. What are predators and prey you found in different habitats?
• Museum connection: Choose a habitat diorama from the museum and describe the predators and prey in that habitat.
5. What do living things need to survive and grow in a habitat?
6. How does one of the dioramas compare to the ecosystem at our school or home?

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Build Your Own Diorama

1. Choose an animal! It can be any animal from anywhere in the world!
2. Research your animal (What does it need to survive?).
3. Plan your diorama.
4. Gather materials you need to make your diorama.
5. Create your diorama.
6. Write a descriptive label for your diorama exhibit.
7. Display in the classroom!

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Every diorama brings unique elements to it. Depending on the materials that you use, your creative touches, and time, your diorama will be your own original creation that tells us about a moment on our planet!

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Background or Backdrop

Think about the weather, time (dawn, morning, day, afternoon, evening, dusk, or night), sky details, and landscape views for the background of your diorama.

Tips:

• White drawing paper to draw in the background
• Use white cardstock paper to paint your background with watercolor or acrylic paints
• Find 3D objects that could be used for a background (example: you can use white cotton balls for clouds)

Examples of different backdrops in dioramas:

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Environment

What habitat or environment are you creating? Think about what will be surrounding the wildlife in your diorama and how you might create it. This will include, plants and physical things like rocks or sand. Don’t forget to do your research on the place your animal lives.

Tips:

• Use natural materials you can find outside like, pebbles, dried plants, pinecones and more
• Use old magazines cut-out of photographs paste them on cardboard or cardstock
• Blue gift wrap paper can be wrinkled and shaped to be a waterfall or river

Examples of diorama environments:

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Animal

After you have your backdrop and environmental features in place, think about your animal that will be part of your diorama. How do they use their surroundings? What might they be doing? What other animals are in the diorama with them and how do they interact?

Tips:

• Use animal outlines to color and cut out and paste them to a piece of cardboard
• Use magazine cut-outs of animals pasted on cardboard
• Mold animals out of model magic and color using washable markers
• Use toy animal figurines (donated, bought, or brought from home)

Examples of animal materials for diorama:

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

Vocabulary

Adaptations: a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.

Anatomy: the study of the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms

Diorama: a model representing a scene.

Ecology: the study of the relationships of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

Ecosystem: a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Fauna: the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment.

Flora: the plants characteristic of a region, period, or special environment.

Habitat: the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows

Traits: an inherited characteristic.

Taxidermy: the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of animals.

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NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY | DARING DIORAMAS | PRE & POST-LESSON SLIDES