Subscribe to our newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox.

Can you imagine meeting an elephant the size of a large dog? This dwarf species once inhabited Sicily.

Inside The Secret World of Elephants at AMNH

Even if you're enamored with elephants, this jam-packed exhibition is practically guaranteed to teach you something new, including the fact that elephants and their relatives once lived on five continents and many islands sprinkled all across the world—even in our North American backyard, and not all of them were Earth-clearing giants, though that is an important contribution of today's surviving species.

Kids will get a kick out of coming eye-to-eye with a life-size model of the dwarf elephant that inhabited the island of Sicily, yet was just 4 feet tall at its shoulder. On the other end of the spectrum, see a life-sized woolly mammoth model in the midst of shedding its winter coat, and an equally towering African elephant model layered with animated projections to give visitors a look under its thick, leathery skin at its skeleton and bodily systems, including details on how it digests the 300-500 pounds of food it must consume daily and endures a nearly 2-year-long pregnancy.

RELATED: AMNH's Gilder Center Opens

Learn about important biological adaptations of elephants by exploring the life-sized African Elephant model at the exhibit's center. 

Fun, Interactive Elements on Display at The Secret World of Elephants

While the models deliver wow factor, there are also plenty of hands-on displays throughout The Secret World of Elephants. Touch screens let visitors try to "speak elephant," detail the plight the ivory trade has had on these spectacular creatures, and examine how people living near elephant habitats can adapt to ensure there are fewer elephant-human encounters.

One exhibit looks only at elephant poop and lets visitors peel back the exterior to see what's hidden inside, explaining how elephants contribute to the ecosystem by transporting undigested seeds to new locations. Another kid-pleaser: a mini-elephant model you can cool by turning a wheel to flap its ears and see its body heat transformed from a hot red to a cool blue.

There are teeth to touch and skin to feel, plus an interactive station that demonstrates how elephants can, in fact, use their feet to hear.

How To See The Secret Life of Elephants at AMNH

The Secret Life of Elephants requires a general admission + one ticket, which starts at $28 for adults and $17 for children ages 3-12. Timed-entry tickets should be booked online in advance.

Unless noted, photos by the author