The Secret World of Elephants

How do elephants “hear” with their feet, use 16 powerful muscles in their trunks, or reshape entire forests just by eating and walking? Step into The Secret World of Elephants and uncover the science, stories, and surprises behind these extraordinary animals.

Opening at the EcoTarium, March–September 2026, this immersive exhibition brings you face-to-face with elephants past and present—from a life-size woolly mammoth shedding its fur to today’s African and Asian elephants that still roam our planet.

Through stunning models, fossil casts, interactive exhibits, and video experiences, you’ll explore how elephants think, feel, and communicate. Discover how they engineer the very landscapes they live in, sustaining countless other species—and how people across the world have long revered and relied on them.

Once, elephants and their relatives roamed nearly every continent. Today, only three species remain. Yet their abilities continue to astonish: trunks strong enough to topple trees yet gentle enough to pluck a single blade of grass, deep family bonds, and intricate ways of communicating across miles.

Scientists are still unlocking their secrets—and sounding the alarm. The demand for ivory, shrinking habitats, and climate change are driving elephants toward extinction. As curator Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History notes, “If we don’t act quickly, elephants could be gone before we ever truly get to know them.”

The Secret World of Elephants invites you to explore, to marvel, and to imagine a future where these giants still roam the Earth.

Step into the Secret World of Elephants

Discover the lives, minds, and power of the world’s largest land mammals in this awe-inspiring exhibition. From the mighty woolly mammoth to today’s African and Asian elephants, explore how these remarkable creatures evolved, think, communicate, and shape the world around them.

Journey through five immersive areas: Evolution, Body, Mind, Habitat, and Elephants & Us to uncover what makes elephants truly extraordinary.

EVOLUTION: From Mammoths to Modern Giants

Travel back 60 million years to meet the elephant’s ancient relatives. Stand beside a life-size woolly mammoth shedding its winter coat, and come face-to-face with dwarf elephants that once roamed Sicily, standing just four feet tall.

Handle touchable teeth casts to feel how mammoths and mastodons ate, and explore an interactive tusk model that reveals how scientists trace mammoth migrations through Alaska.

Discover how elephants’ closest living cousins aren’t hippos or rhinos—but tiny hyraxes and sea cows!

BODY: Built for Power and Precision

Get an inside look at the amazing anatomy that makes elephants so unique.

• Feel the ground shake as you sense the low rumbles elephants use to “talk” through the earth.
• Peek inside a life-size elephant projection to see its skeleton, heartbeat, and how it digests up to 500 pounds of food a day.
• Flap ears to cool down your own mini-elephant model.

And yes—discover the surprisingly important role of elephant poop in sustaining forests and grasslands!

MIND: What Are Elephants Thinking?

Can you “speak elephant”? Try it out!

Listen to five real elephant calls—rumbles, trumpets, and roars—and guess their meanings. Watch videos of elephant greetings, play, and mourning to see their emotions in action.

Then, build your own elephant herd with magnetic family members, from the wise matriarch to playful calves, and see how these deeply social animals stick together.

HABITAT: The Earth Shapers

Elephants are more than animals—they’re ecosystem engineers. Through feeding, digging, and traveling, they shape entire landscapes.

Watch how they carve water holes, open forests for sunlight, and spread seeds up to 30 miles away.

A stunning projection shows the ripple effect of every elephant movement—transforming habitats for countless other species, from dragonflies to lions.

ELEPHANTS & US: Shared Stories

For thousands of years, humans and elephants have lived side by side—as partners, symbols, and sometimes rivals.

Explore cultural connections through stunning artifacts: Vietnamese puppets of warrior sisters who rode elephants into battle, and a majestic Ganesh sculpture, the Hindu god known as the remover of obstacles.

Then, step into the present day to meet the elephants of Reteti Sanctuary in Kenya—where a local community rescues and raises orphaned calves to rejoin wild herds.

Experience the powerful story of Shaba, the orphan who became Reteti’s first matriarch.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION

The Secret World of Elephants is curated by Ross MacPhee, curator emeritus in the American Museum of Natural History’s Department of Mammalogy, with consultation by Raman Sukumar, honorary professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science; and Alexandra van der Geer, a researcher at the University of Leiden, Netherlands.

MacPhee is a paleomammalogist known for his research on island extinctions, with a more recent focus on extinctions that have occurred during the last 50,000 years. He also has collaborated with geneticists and molecular biologists to develop new ways of using ancient DNA and proteins to study Pleistocene extinctions. He previously curated Race to the End of the Earth (2010), The Horse (2008), The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition (1999), and Endangered! (1995). He was the supervising curator of the restoration of the Jill and Lewis Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals, which reopened in 2012.

The exhibition is designed and produced by the American Museum of Natural History’s award-winning Exhibition Department under the direction of Lauri Halderman, senior vice president for exhibition.

Plan Your Class Field Trip

Prepare for your visit with these free educator resources designed to enhance your students’ learning experience before, during, and after your trip.

Support The Secret World of Elephants at the EcoTarium

Help bring this unforgettable experience to life for our community! Local sponsorship opportunities are available for The Secret World of Elephants, coming to the EcoTarium March–September 2026. Join us in inspiring wonder, advancing science education, and celebrating these extraordinary animals.

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact David Zeutas-Broer at dzeutas-broer@ecotarium.org or 508-929-2715.

The Secret World of Elephants is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (amnh.org).