Dig In with the Pokémon Fossil Museum!

The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, best known for SUE, the largest known T-Rex skeleton. Now, SUE is sharing the spotlight with some very unique friends – Pokémon. 

The Pokémon Fossil Museum is an exhibition created by the Field Museum in conjunction with the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo and the Pokémon International Company. It pairs fictional artifacts from the Pokémon universe with their real world inspirations. Though the idea of a natural history museum displaying fictional creatures sounds a bit strange, the exhibition is a shining example of why popular culture is an important tool for education. 

I attended a limited-entry event on June 4th, and was wowed by the dedication from the exhibition and the Field’s educational staff. This special event was an adults only function – not only did it allow a space for grown ups to “nerd out”, but also it brought back the feeling of elementary school field trips. We had hands-on activities focused on the hidden talents of the animal kingdom that ranged from puzzles hidden throughout the museum’s regular exhibits, a paper airplane experiment to learn about bird’s wings, and eating a scorpion (I hated it). Each of the activities was paired with one of the Pokémon types: if you earned enough badges you won a prize. 

Though the exhibition itself was still the highlight of the experience. The life-size Pokémon were beautifully made as well as several “fossils” made alongside them. The exhibition touched on various topics that are prevalent throughout the museum including evolution, adaptation, and conservation. The Cranidos and Rampardos section compared the iron-hard skulls of Pokémon to the potential evolutionary benefits of a Pachycephalosaurus’s boney dome, while Tirtouga discussed how the species has connections to a prehistoric ancestor, similar to modern day turtles. 

Even the exhibition’s curators, Akiko Shinya, Arjan Mann, and Jingmai O’Connor, get a Pokémon style inclusion throughout the exhibition to guide guests through the process of finding, preparing, and understanding fossils. 

The blend between the real and Pokémon worlds is perfectly balanced, highlighting a key theme in the exhibition: imagination and science work together. Though we are limited by our understanding of the physical world when it comes to creating fictional monsters, that doesn’t make them any less compelling. Omanyte doesn’t just have to look like an Ammonite, it can be a gateway to developing a further curiosity and appreciation of the natural world. 

This is all for me to say: I think we need more things like the Pokémon Fossil Museum. Popular culture not only gets new visitors into the doors of museums, which need our patronage now more than ever, but it highlights the interconnectivity of our lives. Knowledge and play work hand-in-hand. Pokémon as a franchise represents the specific time and culture we live in; it shows how technology has changed over time and what we value in terms of entertainment, but it can also help us explore the world– if we’re willing to dig in. 

The Pokémon Fossil Museum runs until April 11, 2027. Tickets are limited so plan your trip soon!

Author: Abby Kirby

Abby Kirby is an English teacher and fan studies scholar. She holds an M.A. in Media and Cinema Communications from DePaul University.

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