The lobby of the museum displays several dinosaurs, including a cast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and skeletal mounts of Mamenchisaurus, Omeisaurus, and Bellusaurus.

The exhibit is organized into eight sections: The Birth of Life, The Cambrian Explosion, Competition for the Ocean, The Transition onto Land, Diversity of Evolution, The Flight of Birds, Mammalian Radiation, and Human Origins and Biological Intelligence.

Mammalian Radiation deals with the rise of mammals as dominant land animals, and has a central display of proboscidean evolution, featuring Platybelodon, Stegodon, and a woolly mammoth.

Human Origins and Biological Intelligence deals with the evolution of hominids, and features a bust and several casts of the Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus.

Tianjin honorary citizen Kenneth Behring donated over 200 rare specimens of wild animals, which are displayed along with the museum's own collection.

The exhibit is divided into seven sections: Australia: Continent of Living Fossils, South America: The Magical Rainforest, North America: The Wild New World, Antarctica: Snow and Ice, Arctic: Melting Glaciers, Africa: The Original Wild and Dead, and Eurasia: The Symphony of Life.