Field Museum

We will be closed tomorrow (11/27) so that our staff can enjoy the day with their friends and family. 🦃 While we’re away, feast on a round of turkey tidbits: 🔉 Only male turkeys "gobble": they use this sound to announce themselves to females. Outside of their signature sound, they can cluck, purr, and yelp. 🏆 Ben Franklin went on the record saying that the wild turkey is a “bird of courage” and thought it would have made a better national symbol. ⚖️ Despite being one of North America’s heaviest birds, wild turkeys can run over 20 mph and fly at up to 55 mph!

VIRTUAL EDUCATOR EVENT: Join us on December 3 for a professional learning opportunity designed to engage educators in deep content learning with the Museum’s collections, with particular emphasis on the Cyrus Tang Hall of China. 🎭 Learn more and register. ➡️  https://lnkd.in/gARJsnhu

Move slowly, snack constantly, and trust the process 🦥🥑 Around 12,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene, the giant ground sloth roamed the Americas. Using their massive tails to balance, these four-ton mammals measured up to 10 feet tall when standing on their back legs. 📏 They used their towering height and massive size to snag and snack on fruit-laden branches, like those of avocado trees, that were out of reach for smaller herbivores. 🍁 After swallowing avocados and their large seeds WHOLE, giant ground sloths dispersed them as they wandered the continent—planting new trees along the way! 🍃

Time to grind. ⛏️ Before fossils ever make it into our collections or displays, they have to be carefully freed from the rocky matrix around them. 🪨 Our preparatory team uses a combination of mechanical and chemical methods under the careful eye of a microscope to remove the matrix without leaving a scratch on the fossil. 🛠️ The fossil you see here is called "The Beast:" a massive block of reinforced plaster that contains part of a large duck-billed hadrosaur (plus a bonus turtle and fish). 🐢 This hadrosaur is named for Missouri, the state where it was discovered and a rare place to find dinosaur bones. 🦴

NOW HIRING: Chief Engineer 👷 In this role, you will lead the operation, safety, and performance of our building systems. You'll have the opportunity to guide a skilled team, oversee critical HVAC, electrical, and life safety systems, and drive innovation in maintenance and reliability. This is your chance to work at one of the world's iconic institutions and make a lasting difference. Apply today ➡️ fieldmuseum.io/careers

Reptiles with no chill ❄️ Reptiles can't produce their own body heat and rely on their environment for warmth...so why did scientists find this 52-million-year-old caiman relative, Tsoabichi greenriverensis, in the snowy state of Wyoming? 🤔 Its presence in the fossil record gives scientists an important clue about how the climate there has changed over time. ⬇️ 🔍 While Tsoabichi greenriverensis would feel out of place in today's wintry temperatures, it must have had what it needed to survive in the Eocene—a warm, tropical habitat. 🐊 ☀️ Learn more in special exhibition After the Age of Dinosaurs ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gbw2kRfB

We are very pleased to announce that in January 2026, Ginevra Stirling Ranney will join the Field as Vice President of Institutional Advancement! 🎉 Ginevra is currently Vice President of Development for Lincoln Park Zoo. She previously served as our Senior Director of Individual Philanthropy from 2015 to 2022 and, prior to that, as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at the Adler Planetarium. She combines great depth of experience in leading fundraising teams with knowledge of the Museum and a lifelong commitment to philanthropy for Chicago's cultural institutions. We look forward to her partnership as the Field continues to connect all of us to the natural world and the human story. Welcome, Ginevra! 🦖

NOW HIRING: Collections Manager-Vertebrate Paleontology 🦴 In this role, you will be responsible for managing the Museum’s world-renowned fossil vertebrate collections and making them available for research, education, exhibition, and outreach. Based on best practices, the individual in this role will oversee the direct care, organization, and management of more than 100,000 specimens—some of which are the Field Museum’s most high-profile items. This is your chance to work at one of the world's iconic institutions and make a lasting difference. Apply today ➡️ fieldmuseum.org/careers

Will SUE go to homecoming with me? 🥹 Get ready to throw it back—way back. Whether your first visit to the Field Museum was on a school field trip or last week, join us for a night all about time travel—through Earth’s history and your own. Get your tickets to Eras After Dark: A Field Museum Homecoming, a 21+ after-hours celebration of science, nostalgia, and all the decades that shaped us. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gxqq_aTY

The drum of a heartbeat. 🥁 For Native American Heritage Month, we welcomed a Chicago powwow drum group, the Iron Bear Singers, for a performance with the "Chi-Town Drum" from our Native Truths exhibit. Drum groups like these are considered the "heartbeat" of Native gatherings and celebrations. There are many different drum groups across North America—each with its own style, history, and tribal affiliations—who use the performance as a way to pass on traditions and maintain cultural identity across generations.