Inside the American Museum of Natural History lie 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories and a renowned library. Yet these are not big enough to display the entire museum collection of over 32 million samples. Only a fraction of these are displayed at a time. The museum employs about 200 people as scientific staff, and sponsors a hundred expeditions every year.

The unique collection of the museum includes habitat groups of mammals from Africa, Asia and North America, a life-size model of the blue whale hanging in the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, reopened in 2003, the 62 ft (19m) Haida painted and carved war canoe from the Pacific Northwest, a gigantic 34-ton piece of the Cape York meteorite and the world's largest blue sapphire called the “Star of India”. An entire floor has been devoted to the collection of vertebrates.

Anthropological collections of the museum include people from Asia, the Pacific, Man in Africa, the Native Americans in the United States collection, the general Native American, Mexican and Central American collections.

The Hayden Planetarium, that forms part of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is connected to the museum. It is housed in a glass cube, which accommodates the sphere-shaped Space Theater, designed by James Stewart Polshek. One of the most sought-after exhibits in the Rose Center includes the Heilburn Cosmic Pathway. The Rose Center was opened on February 19, 2000.

Are you planning to staying in one of the many New York hotels after your visit to the museum? Make sure you check out a variety of options among New York hotels and reserve one prior to arrival.