[BCMA] Mammoths coming to Royal BC Museum

Fri Mar 4 15:13:44 PST 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

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March 4, 2016

Weather Alert: Icy temperatures forecast for
Royal BC Museum this summer

Victoria, BC - Move over El Niño, another major climatic event is on its way. The Royal BC Museum in Victoria is forecast to descend into a deep freeze this summer when woolly mammoths and other giants of the Ice Age return for the first time in more than 10,000 years.

This summer’s feature exhibition Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age will transport visitors back to a time great beasts dominated the world and ancient peoples struggled to survive in a rapidly changing environment. The exhibition opens June 3 and runs through Dec. 31, 2016.

Everything about Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age is on a huge scale. Visitors can walk among fleshed-out models of these imposing creatures that stood more than 4 meters (14 feet) tall and weighed as much as seven tonnes (8 tons).

The exhibition, presented in partnership with Chicago’s Field Museum, includes an exceptional collection of fossils, preserved mammoth flesh, immersive multimedia and engaging interactive displays. Visitors will be able to touch real mammoth tusks and mastodon teeth, and learn about some of their fierce neighbours such as dire wolves, saber-toothed cats and short-faced bears.

Many rare objects are also on display including early cave art, huge skulls and tusks, and weird and wonderful mammoth relatives – including dwarf mammoths that lived on California’s Channel Islands.

Visitors to Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age will learn how scientists excavate and discover more about these majestic animals, their eventual extinction and whether it is possible (or even ethical) to clone them today.

“This exhibition will change the way people think about the Ice Age,” said Prof. Jack Lohman, Royal BC Museum CEO. “New research by Royal BC Museum scientists and others is unraveling some of the most puzzling mysteries about mammoths and the effects of climate change. It’s a story for our times told through fossils and trailblazing science.”

Coinciding with the exhibition, the Royal BC Museum will unveil a major update to its Natural History-Woolly Mammoth gallery. Hands-on, interactive displays will present the latest scientific and archeological discoveries, revealing our most complete understanding to date of life in British Columbia during the Ice Age.

Mammoths towered over everything in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Pleistocene Epoch, known as the Ice Age, from about 1.8 million years ago to as recently as 10,000 years ago. These wonderfully successful creatures thrived in diverse ecosystems – from the temperate grasslands to the wind-swept steppes of the frozen north. They were a source of food and artistic inspiration for our ancient ancestors.

However, despite their size, or perhaps because of it, these early cousins of the elephant went extinct. Thankfully they left us an abundant fossil record, including many important specimens from right here in British Columbia.

For more information and a full calendar of exhibition-related special events, including summer kids camps, visit www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca and follow #RBCMammoths.

Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age is presented with lead marketing partner Tourism Victoria.

About the Royal BC Museum
The Royal BC Museum explores the province's human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Looking to the future, the Royal BC Museum will be a refreshed, modern museum, extending its reach far beyond Victoria as a world-class cultural venue and repository of digital treasures.

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Media contact:
Royal BC Museum Media Inquiries
250-387-3207
news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca<mailto:news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca>
[Twitter_logo_blue]@RoyalBCMuseum<https://twitter.com/RoyalBCMuseum> #RBCMammoths

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