The Virginia Living Museum recently opened the Museum-curated temporary exhibit, Exploration Ice Age: UnearthingExtinctions. The exhibit showcases mammoths, saber-tooth cats, mastodons and other animals of the last Ice Age. The Quaternary Period includes the loss of the megafauna found in North America at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. Guests can also view fossils and biofacts from the Virginia Living Museum collections, and some on loan from the Virginia Zoo.
An interactive fossil discovery quest includes a digital breakout room via QR code. With a quick scan on a mobile device, guests select a fossil on display and attempt to travel back in time to the last Ice Age and solve clues to discover its identity.
It is predicted around one million animal and plant species are currently threatened with extinction. The exhibit explores and unearths extinctions to consider the biodiversity and future of our planet. Extinctions are not just historical events, they are also happening right now. Connecting ancient species to their relatives, some of which live in habitats on the Museum’s three-quarter mile long outdoor trail, the exhibit brings history to life. To protect Earth’s biodiversity in the present day and help us progress into the future, we can look to the amazing animals of the past.
The exhibit, included in Museum admission, remains open through April 11 and is made possible thanks to sponsors W. M. Jordan Company and TowneBank. All COVID-19 guidelines will be enforced. Masks and one-way social distancing will be required throughout the gallery in addition to the rest of the museum, both indoors and outdoors.
For more information, visit thevlm.org or call 757-595-1900
