Fodor's Expert Review Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

First opened to the public in 1876, the Peabody Museum houses more than 13 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history museums in the nation. In addition to exhibits on Andean, Mesoamerican, and Pacific cultures, the venerable museum has an excellent ornithology collection, including a stuffed dodo and a passenger pigeon. The main attractions for both children and amateur paleontologists are some of the world's earliest reconstructions of dinosaur skeletons—including the huge brontosaurus that overwhelms the Great Hall.