# Museum exhibition: Animals in the future? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239 "2010-07-19T16:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/1 "2010-07-19T16:48:07Z")
So, in the spirit of asking for information on things while providing very little detail… I remember dimly from my childhood an exhibition at Denver’s Museum of Natural History. It was full of artist’s representations and speculations of how animals would evolve in the future (mostly, I think, after a nuclear war). I believe this would have been around the mid-1980s. I know this is skimpy, but does anyone have any ideas what I saw? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/2 "2010-07-19T17:08:23Z")
Might it have been based on [After Man: A Zoology of the Future](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Man:_A_Zoology_of_the_Future)? Some of the pictures linked are of physical models, not the book’s illustrations, so, unless they’re links to the wrong things (and I haven’t read the book in almost 20 years, so that’s possible), there does seem to have been something of the sort for it. The time period works out, as does the concept (though, IIRC, it doesn’t include an atomic war…just simple passage of time). ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/3 "2010-07-19T19:15:21Z")
That’s got to be it. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/4 "2010-07-19T19:25:06Z")
In fact, I know that’s what it was, because I remember this guy: [![](https://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Dixon_Night_Stalker.jpg) ](https://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Dixon_Night_Stalker.jpg) ETA: Here is a newspaper article that mentions the touring exhibit: > **[ANIMAL LIFE OF THE FUTURE --AFTER HOMO SAPIENS](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-06-01-8702100425-story.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/5 "2010-07-19T19:28:23Z")
Aah, the Night Stalker…that bastard has haunted me since I first saw the book (in the mid-80s!). God, I need to get a copy of that book, so I can reread it. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/6 "2010-07-21T00:22:43Z")
I have copies of After Man and Man After Man. I love them both, though some of the assumptions and logic in Man After Man seem dead wrong to me. A documentary series, The Future Is Wild was also made. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/7 "2010-07-21T00:28:49Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Aah, the Night Stalker…that bastard has haunted me since I first saw the book (in the mid-80s!). > > God, I need to get a copy of that book, so I can reread it. [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/After-Man-Zoology-Dougal-Dixon/dp/0312194331). Pretty pricey, some copies. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/museum-exhibition-animals-in-the-future/547239/8 "2010-07-21T00:41:33Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > A documentary series, The Future Is Wild was also made. The book done to tie in with this is pretty awesome. Haven’t seen the series, though. (And I managed to get a copy of After Man on the cheap. Win for me.)