The Canadian Museum of Nature is winding up celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Canada’s first fossil gallery, offering visitors the rare opportunity to view historical photos of its earliest fossil displays, talk to the experts and see paleontology in action.
The gallery, which first opened in 1913, let the public visit fossil preparation stations every Saturday in November.
Dr. Jordan Mallon, the museum’s resident “dino guy,” says the fossil stations are unique because people get to see museum workers dig up new fossils embedded in rocks from all over the world for the first time.
“The fossils are 75 million years old and the visitors get to be the first people to ever lay eyes on them,” Mallon says.
"A lot of people find that mind-blowing, it's a pretty cool experience."
Mallon's work has been focused on the museum's centennial celebrations. While the stations are only scheduled for the month of November, Mallon recently created new panels of historical photos and short stories that will remain alongside the gallery’s oldest fossils for good.
After all, the museum’s fossil gallery is home to the first dinosaur skeleton ever displayed in Canada, the Edmontosaurus. This dinosaur received a Canadian name because it was discovered in 1912 along Alberta’s Red Deer River in the Lower Edmonton Formation.
The duck-billed Edmontosaurus was first mounted for display a century ago and Dr. Kathlyn Stewart, head of the museum’s paleontology department, says it remains a popular piece today.
“I can just imagine how amazed people were (in 1913) because dinosaurs mean so much to people and this was the first one in Canada,” she says.
“You don’t get that many complete skeletons, so when you do, you flaunt it.”