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[title]The 69-year-old dioramas that make up the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of North American Mammals are currently undergoing an unprecedented renovation. Generally, the life-size scenes are lightly cleaned every few decades; but this $2.5 million project, which began in January (and has temporarily closed parts of the installation), is a more extensive effort, correcting damage caused by years of bright lighting, temperature fluctuations and dust. The work is scheduled to finish in early 2012, and includes upgrading the glass windows and cleaning the animals themselves. We went behind the scenes with senior program manager Stephen C. Quinn to learn about the inner workings of the exhibit.