Discover Seven Stories of America in the National Museum of Natural History’s New Exhibition

From a bird prepared by a president to a monumental cave carved by water over millions of years, “From These Lands” reveals how America’s history is etched in nature itself

There are countless ways that nature tells the story of the United States. You can follow its rivers and mountain ranges, trace the paths of migrating animals or uncover fossils that reveal ancient landscapes dating back hundreds of millions of years. You can also look to the people who have shaped, and been shaped by, these lands for generations. 

The National Museum of Natural History's newest exhibition, “From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritage,” brings those perspectives together in a single gallery through more than 600 specimens and cultural objects from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, the exhibition invites visitors to celebrate and reflect on not just America's history, but the remarkable connections between people, places and the natural world that continue to define it. 

This Fourth of July, we're spotlighting seven stories featured among the exhibition's specimens and objects that represent the nation’s natural history.  

The United States of Insects 

No group of animals tells America's biodiversity story quite like insects. 

From brilliantly colored beetles and butterflies to striking cicadas, a wall of insects in “From These Lands” forms a dazzling map of the United States, revealing the extraordinary diversity that thrives across every landscape. Insects make up more than two-thirds of all described animal species, and scientists have documented an estimated 91,000 species in the United States alone — with many more still waiting to be discovered.  

While some insects are notorious pests, most quietly keep ecosystems running. They pollinate plants, disperse seeds, recycle nutrients and even produce materials that people rely on, including silk, honey, wax and dyes. Together, these specimens offer a vivid reminder that protecting America’s habitats helps preserve the incredible diversity living right outside our doors. 

Natural Wonders on the National Mall 

Long before it became the backdrop for presidential speeches and national celebrations, the marble on the National Mall began its journey beneath an ancient ocean in what is now Vermont. 

More than 440 million years ago, the limestone that would eventually become Vermont marble formed from the remains of tiny marine organisms when the region was submerged beneath the sea. Later, intense heat and pressure transformed that limestone into the brilliant white metamorphic rock that is now known around the world.  

Today, Vermont marble appears everywhere from kitchen countertops to some of the nation's most recognizable monuments, including the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. It's a fitting reminder that the country's most iconic landmarks are quite literally built from the landscapes they commemorate. 

A Presidential Bird Collection 

Before Theodore Roosevelt became an influential conservationist and America’s 26th president, he was a teenager with a passion for birds.  

At just 17 years old, the future president carefully collected and prepared a northern bobwhite from New York and a hooded warbler from Pennsylvania. An avid naturalist, Roosevelt donated numerous specimens to the Smithsonian, which are now part of the museum’s historic bird collection.  

These specimens represent more than presidential keepsakes. They are part of a scientific collection that now includes more than 600,000 bird specimens documenting America's biodiversity across generations. Most were collected over a century ago and preserve valuable information about past environments, helping researchers study everything from changing ecosystems to bird evolution. Roosevelt's specimens remind us that curiosity can leave a lasting legacy, and that today's observations may become tomorrow's scientific discoveries. 

One of America’s Oldest Cold Cases 

You can learn a surprising amount from 13,000-year-old poop. 

Among the more unexpected specimens in “From These Lands” is ancient dung from a Shasta ground sloth, an Ice Age giant that once wandered the American Southwest. Preserved for thousands of years in the dry conditions of the Grand Canyon, the dung is far more than a curiosity. By carefully breaking it apart and examining the preserved plant fragments inside, scientists have identified more than 70 species of plants the sloths once ate, helping to reconstruct ancient landscapes. 

The evidence also deepens one of paleontology's biggest mysteries: how did these giant creatures go extinct? The world became warmer after the most recent Ice Age ended around 11,700 years ago. Yet the ground sloths’ preferred plants survived, while the sloths themselves are gone. This suggests that other factors, including humans, may have played a role in their extinction.   

A Comeback Story in the Nation’s Capital 

Not long ago, wild rice all but disappeared from Washington, D.C. Once an essential part of The Anacostia River’s freshwater wetlands, the aquatic grass provided a habitat for wildlife, filtered water and served as an important food source for the Piscataway and Nacotchtank Indigenous communities. But decades of deforestation, pollution, dredging and industrial development devastated the river's tidal marshes. By the 1980s, 90% of those wetlands had vanished. In “From These Lands,” a wild rice specimen collected in 1958 preserves a snapshot of the plant just before that dramatic decline.  

Today, however, the story is changing. Since 2004, the Anacostia Watershed Society has worked with volunteers to replant wild rice along the river, and the plants are once again spreading on their own. A hopeful reminder that restoration can transform both ecosystems and communities.  

A National Park Beneath Your Feet 

Some of America's most spectacular landscapes aren't visible on the surface. 

Beneath the rolling hills of Kentucky lies Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system on Earth, with more than 400 miles of mapped passageways and countless mysteries still waiting to be explored. A delicate gypsum stalactite in the exhibit offers a glimpse into the slow geological processes that built this underground world.  

Over millions of years, slightly acidic rainwater dissolved tunnels through limestone while mineral-rich water dripping from cave ceilings formed intricate stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones and other dazzling formations. But Mammoth Cave is more than a geological marvel. Its underground streams and pools support an entire hidden ecosystem, from cave shrimp and snails to fish and thirsty bats. 

The National Mammal on the National Mall 

Few animals are as closely tied to the American landscape as the bison. The rise, fall and resurgence of the national mammal are all documented in another new exhibit at the museum, “Bison: Standing Strong.” 

Once numbering in the tens of millions, these massive grazers shaped the Great Plains by dispersing seeds, recycling nutrients and creating habitats for countless other species. They also sustained Indigenous communities culturally, spiritually and economically. But by the 1880s, relentless commercial hunting had pushed bison to the brink of extinction, and only a few hundred animals remained.  

A plains bison calf on display in "From These Lands" tells a hopeful chapter of that story. It descends from a herd established by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, whose leaders recognized the need to protect bison before conservation became a national movement. Thanks to the work of Indigenous communities, conservation organizations and wildlife managers, wild bison once again roam parts of the American West, restoring both grassland ecosystems and enduring cultural traditions. 

Emma Saaty | Read More

Emma Saaty is a Science Communications Specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  She brings science to the public by covering natural history research for Smithsonian Magazine's, Smithsonian Voices.  Additionally, she tracks media coverage and coordinates filming activities for the museum’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs.  Emma recently completed her Bachelor of Science in Biological Anthropology with a minor in Journalism at George Washington University where she conducted research on Virunga mountain gorillas with GW’s Life History and Skeletal Biology laboratory.  You can find her here.