“As the UK’s premier repository for fossils, key specimens from all over the world were brought here,” Matthew says of the London landmark. “Many are on display, while others in the collections make it a key place for visiting scientists,” he adds. Come across woolly rhinos, moa, and cave lions; and in the mammals gallery, encounter one of Britain’s most complete mammoth skulls.

Experience the Netherlands as if it’s the Ice Age. A detailed diorama is the main focus of the gallery, and binoculars around the room let you get up close with realistic recreations of the mammals that once roamed the land: woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, steppe bison, cave lions, and cave hyenas. “Feels like live science,” Darren says. The natural history museum is also home to thousands of fossils found in the area.

Explore a complete replica of the original Lascaux cave and its wall paintings in this one-of-a-kind Southwestern French destination that’s built into a hillside. “This is the unique Sistine Chapel of ancient art,” says Darren. “These paintings depict Ice Age cattle, horses, deer, and other animals, showcasing the close understanding ancient people had of contemporary animals.” Step inside to feel the same wonder and awe archaeologists did when first encountering the cave in 1940.

“Numerous Ice Age mammals are on show in this famous museum,” says Matthew. “These reflect its long history of research and exploration across the North American continent.” Get up close with mastodons and mammoths and many more Ice Age animals like giant beavers and tortoises. And beautiful dioramas show the lay of the land when it was filled with Ice Age mammals, before climate changes and overhunting made them extinct.

“It’s the ultimate museum for anyone seriously interested in Ice Age animals,” says Matthew. “World-class exhibits and dioramas showcase the mammals and birds that died in the tar pits here.” Plus, it’s the world’s only active dig site in an urban area. Get a glimpse of Los Angeles 100,000 years ago, when giant sloths, saber-toothed cats, mammoths, and more populated the area. Not to be missed is the Dire Wolf Wall displaying 400 skulls of these extinct pack hunters.

“If you want the bigger, meaner cousin to North American fauna, this is home base,” Darren says. Indeed, the historic Argentine museum is home to incredible skeletons and fossils of South American Ice Age megafauna. One of the unmissable showcases is the fossilized skin of a giant ground sloth with some of its fur miraculously still intact.

It’s part museum, part live excavation site. As Darren says, “This in-situ bone bed of dozens of Columbian mammoths preserved in a prehistoric sinkhole excels in showing context.” Visitors can walk around and above the sinkhole that trapped more than 60 mammoths inside around 140,000 years ago. The remains are preserved as they were discovered, including the mammoth tusk unearthed in 1974 while the area was being bulldozed for a housing development.

According to Darren, this Florida museum has “the best handle on glyptodonts,” giant members of the armadillo family that became extinct 10,000 years ago. With thick plated shells, these armored animals weighed more than a ton, and the glyptodont skeleton on display is awe-inspiring. Also in the exhibition are skeletons and fossils of giant sloths, mammoths, and more collected from river and sinkhole sites in the state. The museum will reopen following renovations in fall 2026.

Say hello to the world’s largest kangaroo—or at least its fossils, which are on display in Queensland Museum. This is one of the great megafauna attractions from the tropical Ice Age that paleontologists dug up in the outback. These oversized ancestors apparently didn’t migrate, making them susceptible to extinction during drastic environmental changes. Darren’s other must-sees at the museum are the wombat-like giant Diprotodon and the giant lizard Varanus priscus, dubbed Megalania.

Walk past a giant Mylodon replica and you’ll find yourself inside an incredible cave where the remains of these extinct South American ground sloths were found. Mike’s favorites at this historic monument include the uniquely South American saber-toothed cat Smilodon populator and the big horned turtle Ninjemys. You can feel the Ice Age craze all over Puerto Natales. “Expect Mylodon references around town, including local products, and even beers named after extinct animals,” he says.

Mike is a fan of the Shanghai institution for its “large, modern galleries that cover East Asia’s Ice Age story in a way the general public can actually absorb.” The building itself—the museum’s home since 2015—is an architectural marvel. But what it holds inside its walls is even more spectacular: a multilevel, comprehensive journey of life on Earth over billions of years. Its Ice Age displays include woolly and steppe mammoths and the giant armadillo-like glyptodonts. 


Learn all about New Zealand’s gigantic moa, the tallest birds to ever exist—and one of the Ice Age’s most fascinating creatures. These flightless birds could grow to more than nine feet tall—but just the females, which were more than twice the size of male moa and much heavier. According to Darren, this museum is the definitive authority on moa. “Modern installations, beautiful specimen presentation, and clear storytelling really bring Ice Age New Zealand to life.”