New York's American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is bringing in live crocodiles for a new exhibition exploring the 200 million-year history of the species.

Featuring several live specimens, Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World will explore the complex lives of crocodilians – a group including crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials – their evolutionary history, biology, behaviour, and relationships with humans.

Live crocodiles will be a major part of the exhibition, with the american alligator, African dwarf crocodile, African slender-snouted crocodile and the endangered siamese crocodile all going on display. The exhibition will also include life-sized dioramas with models of the Australian freshwater crocodile, Cuvier’s dwarf caiman, Indian gharial, and saltwater crocodile.

Interactivity will also feature heavily, with a display teaching visitors “how to speak croc”; an up close encounter with a model of Gomek, the largest crocodile ever exhibited in the Western Hemisphere; and a section for visitors to test their crocodilian IQ with trivia. Interactive technology will also allow visitors to ask questions of experts, including Mark Norell, curator of Crocs in the Museum’s Division of Paleontology.

The exhibition, developed by Peeling Productions at Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland, opens on 28 May and will close on 2 January 2017.