80,000-year-old mastodon star of newest exhibit at Halifax's Museum of Natural History
A new exhibit that is larger than humankind is making its way to the Museum of Natural History in Halifax.
"Age of the Mastodon" opens to the public on Saturday and is sure to have you looking up – way up.
"I think for many visitors who come to the exhibit, they're going to see the cast of the mastodon – a full-size cast made in Trenton, Ont., and brought here to the museum," said Jeff Gray, the curator of visitor experience and exhibits at the Museum of Natural History. "But there's so much more to see in this exhibit."
Pictured above is a mastodon skull that is featured in the Museum of Natural History's Age of the Mastodon exhibit. (SOURCE: Museum of Natural History)
The exhibit will feature a number of mastodon artifacts that were found in Nova Scotia, including some never-before-seen 80,000-year-old mastodon bones.
It also tells stories about the giant mammals, including what it was like when they were alive, what Nova Scotia was like during that time, and some of the factors that led to the demise of them.
Pictured above are mastodon teeth that are featured in the Museum of Natural History's Age of the Mastodon exhibit. (SOURCE: Museum of Natural History)
Gray says the bones were discovered three decades ago in the Milford Gypsum Quarry. Since then, they have been safely stored away at the museum, available only to researchers.
"The Nova Scotia Museum got a phone call from the National Gypsum Quarry where they had just found some tusks and large bones while they were cleaning out an ancient sinkhole near Milford," explained Gray.
"So that was 30 years ago that the museum started a large project and worked for multiple months – about eight or nine months – to collect and preserve the bones of this 80,000-year-old mastodon."
Pictured above is a mastodon spine that will be featured in the Museum of Natural History's Age of the Mastodon exhibit. (SOURCE: Museum of Natural History)
Also featured in the exhibit are items from the "Mastodon Mud Project" – where four tonnes of mud from the Milford mastodon dig were sent to 300 Nova Scotia schools.
Students were then tasked with going through the debris, where they found small specimens, including a rare, soft-body painted turtle hatchling, which is now at the Nova Scotia Museum.
Pictured above is the rare, soft-body painted turtle hatching, discovered by a student during the Mastodon Mud Project. (SOURCE: Nova Scotia Museum)
"All of that material was examined by students all over the province; they picked out all the small shells and all the little bits of bones and spruce cones," said Gray. "And some of those really exceptional fossils are on display as part of this exhibit."
The "Age of the Mastodon" exhibit is not only for those in the Halifax area, it will also be travelling around Nova Scotia.
"Both in the full form that you see here in Halifax... but also, we are working on developing some smaller mastodon exhibits that get shared to smaller communities that don't often have the opportunity to see something as great as Age of the Mastodon," said Gray.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING BMO says 'technical team investigating' after customers report outage
The Bank of Montreal says its 'technical team is investigating' following customer reports of an outage.
NEW How car thefts are impacting your insurance, even if your car isn't stolen
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Canadians' interest in buying EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: J.D. Power
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
McDonald's says US$18 Big Mac meal was an 'exception' and their prices haven't risen that much
McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.
Oilers rally to beat Stars, tie Western Conference Final
With the Edmonton Oilers down two goals late in the first period of Game 4, Rogers Place was quiet, fans seemingly bewildered at the early, quick scoring of the Dallas Stars and the slow start by the home team. Ryan McLeod's marker with six-and-a-half minutes in the opening frame left changed all that.