Living, breathing reptiles will be brushing tails with the ancient skeletons at The Museum of Natural History, at least for the next few months.
The museum welcomed its first living crocodilians — three different types of crocodiles and American alligator hatchlings — ever Tuesday as part of a new exhibit, “Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World.”
There are a total of 12 animals on display at the exhibit, which opens Friday, including two Siamese crocodiles, six American alligator hatchlings, a West African Dwarf crocodile and three Central African slender-snouted crocodiles.
Along with the live animals, the exhibition also features life-sized replicas of four different species including the Estuarine saltwater crocodile, one of the world’s largest crocs that can grow up to 18 feet and weigh more than 2,000 pounds.
A group of 20 school kids got a sneak preview of the big-toothed creatures Tuesday morning, where they toured the first-floor exhibit.
“I’m actually surprised about how friendly they are,” said Tim Rayner, 12. “Before today, I saw them as scary animals killing people like what I see in the movies. Today, I learned the only time they do that is if you are in their territory.”
But others were happy there was a glass wall protecting them from the gators.
“I still think they’re dangerous animals,” said Ansar Khan, 12, who added he’d keep his distance if he encountered one in the wild.
The exhibition will be on display from May 28, 2016 through January 2, 2017
“I think one of the things we hope from this exhibition is that people come to understand that crocodilians are really an interesting group of animals,” said George Amato, director of the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics.
“That they come in many different sizes and shapes, they have a very interesting evolutionary history, they have complex behaviors, they are threatened by our impact on the environment and that they are much more than the dangerous animals from our nightmares.”