Ancient creatures come alive at Abu Dhabi’s Natural History Museum through augmented reality
Snap powers interactive journeys across space, oceans and prehistoric landscapes
ABU DHABI – The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, the largest museum of its kind in the Middle East, has partnered with Snap Inc. to introduce a wide-ranging set of augmented reality experiences designed to transform how visitors explore the universe and Earth’s natural history.
The initiative draws on more than 13.8 billion years of scientific discovery, turning deep time into an immersive, visual and interactive journey. Through mobile devices and Snap’s next generation Spectacles, the museum shifts from static displays to a living, responsive environment where science surrounds the visitor.
Using Snapchat’s AR technology, prehistoric environments, ancient creatures and monumental species now appear within the physical museum space, allowing visitors to interact with them at full scale. The digital experiences are permanent installations, giving every guest access to an evolving layer of storytelling that runs alongside the museum’s scientific collections.
Jurassic World
One of the centrepieces of the collaboration is the transformation of the museum’s iconic atrium into a vast Jurassic landscape. Through Snap’s world-transformation technology, visitors are surrounded by towering digital foliage, atmospheric lighting and roaming prehistoric life. Life-sized Camarasaurus, Barosaurus and the marine predator Tylosaurus appear in real time, moving naturally through the environment as guests walk among them.
A permanent QR code placed inside the museum allows visitors to activate the experience instantly using Snapchat’s camera, enabling individuals and groups to explore the same digital world simultaneously. The system supports multiple users at once, creating a shared AR environment that blends physical architecture with dynamic virtual content and educational narration.
Blue Whale
Among the most detailed educational features is a full-scale Blue Whale rendered in photorealistic detail. Visitors can activate an X-ray mode that reveals the animal’s internal anatomy, including its heart, lungs and adaptations for deep-sea life. The layered visualisation turns complex biological concepts into intuitive learning tools, making the inner workings of the world’s largest animal visible in seconds.
Spectacles view
For a more advanced encounter, Snap’s next generation Spectacles provide hands free access to exclusive guided AR demonstrations. Wearing the lightweight glasses, visitors can see a full-scale Brachiosaurus emerge seamlessly inside the museum, towering over the physical exhibits. The experience offers a highly realistic sense of depth and scale, allowing users to observe the creature as if it were standing in the gallery.
These demonstrations are designed to showcase how wearable AR can deepen engagement, removing the need to hold a device while still delivering detailed visual and scientific information within the field of view.
Dr Peter C. Kjærgaard, Director of Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, said the partnership introduces storytelling and education through engaging, interactive formats that connect world-class science with advanced AR. Antoine Challita, UAE Country Head for Snap Inc., said the collaboration brings billions of years of history into an immersive journey that allows visitors to step directly into the past rather than simply observe it.