Ice Age Imperials opens at the Delaware Museum of Natural History


Ice Age Imperials 
Special exhibit explores giants of the Ice Age
 October 12, 2013 - January 5, 2014



Imagine traveling 20,000 years into the past to a period in our planet's history when the environment was dramatically different than we know it today.  Fierce cats, enormous mastodons and wooly mammoths, six-feet-tall beavers, and other giant creatures roamed the land, and every day was a struggle for survival.  

This story will be presented like never before, through direct handling and interaction with real fossils from such ancient animals as the giant (five ton!) ground sloth, the cave bear, the largest breed of lion to ever live, and the herds of shaggy elephants that once covered North America.  

Using two full-scale dioramas, a series of interactive displays, and other educational components, Ice Age Imperials will have visitors asking questions like: When and where was the Ice Age? What was life like in Delaware during that time? How do today's animals compare to their extinct Ice Age relatives?

Exhibit Highlights Include:
  • Full-Scale Dioramas: Two central dioramas feature the fierce-looking Sabertooth cat, the larger-than-life Wooly Mammoth, the Woodland Musk Ox, and the role of early human hunters.
  • Large And In Charge:  A three-sided display explores some of the largest mammals of the Ice Age, including the extinct Short-Faced Bear, Dire Wolf, and Giant Beaver.  
  • Teamwork: Large 3-D puzzles of a Mastodon and Sabertooth cat require a team effort to assemble.
  • Dig It: An Ice Age fossil "dig box" reveals surprise remains of extinct creatures.
  • Learn More: Discover more about the Ice Age and the formation, nature, and movement of glaciers, as well as the massive size of Ice Age glaciers.
Ice Age Imperials explores how today's animal life compares to its extinct Ice Age relatives, and about the way of life of the earliest peoples, the Paleo-hunters, that once inhabited North America.  Ice Age Imperials will also provide a rare opportunity to "touch the Ice Age."



WHERE: Delaware Museum of Natural History, 4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE 19807

HOURS: Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; Sunday 12-4:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: $9 for adults, $7 for children (3-17), $8 for seniors, FREE for children 2 and younger.  FREE for Museum members.

MORE INFO: Visit www.delmnh.org or call (302) 658-9111