Mammoths and Mastodons
Article and photos by Liz Jurkowski
The exhibition has excellent displays showing life-size examples of Ice Age animals.
For a limited time, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) has opened a temporary exhibit that has been thousands of years in the making. Mammoths and Mastodons is now open until May 27. Grab the family and plan a morning or afternoon at the museum.
The Mammoths and Mastodons exhibition answers many questions about the last Ice Age.
The museum’s website describes the exhibit as exploring the “evolution, interactions, and eventual extinction of these enormous and awe-inspiring creatures.” It focuses on the recent Ice Age discoveries found at a reservoir site in Snowmass in 2011, where both mammoth and mastodon bones were found. In addition, the exhibition describes what the late Pliocene (the last Ice Age) was like, and what other animals, including humans, were like more than twelve thousand years ago.
The museum challenges guests to “Return to the Ice Age” and describes the temporary exhibition like this: “In Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, you will encounter some of Earth’s most awe-inspiring mammals, roam among saber-toothed cats and giant bears, and wonder over some of the oldest human artifacts in existence.”
At an Ice Age social held on March 8, many experienced a great time discovering the prehistoric world, exploring the cold terrain of Ice Age Colorado, and meeting paleontologists who were fortunate to work at the Snowmass dig site.
The exhibit is very kid-friendly, with many hands-on areas and colorful displays. Plan your visit to the museum to catch the IMAX film “Titans of the Ice Age 3D” after your visit to the exhibit, and gain a true understanding of what it was like when large wooly mammoths roamed Ice Age North America.
