The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is located near the University Circle area in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The natural history museum focuses on education and culture and houses several artifacts within the 550-acre museum. The natural history museum is 1920 with the goal of performing research together with the preservation in the scientific fields of astronomy, geology, paleontology, zoology, archaeology and anthropology.

One of the biggest contributions in history for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History comes in the form of the museum?s former curator, Donald Johanson who discovered ?Lucy.? The skeletal remains of Lucy belonged to an ancient hominid Australopithecus afarensis.

Visitors should expect to see a mix of permanent exhibits together with seasonal or temporary exhibits. The permanent exhibits in the Cleveland Natural History Museum includes a full scale model of a stegosaurus , a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, skeletal replicas of a juvenile tyrannosaurid named Jane and a triceratops. Other exhibits include mastodon and mammoth samples together with a cast of ?Lucy.?

The Cleveland Natural History Museum is also the new home for the Hamann-Todd Collection, which is a collection of over 3100 human skeletons and 900 primate skeletons. These remains were once part of the exhibit in the Western Reserve University Medical School but were later turned over to the natural museum due to the costs for the preservation of the bones.

The museum is also home to the nearby Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium; one of the best planetariums in the United States which opened in January 2002. The planetarium?s design helps in giving a better look at the universe. The planetariums can accommodate a maximum of 85 guests and is also wheelchair accessible.

Youngsters and teenagers can also take the time and learn more about natural history with the classes and guided tours provided within the museum.