“Savage Ancient Seas” exhibit at Museum of the Rockies to open Jan. 23
Massive marine creatures will be the focal point of the new changing exhibit at the Museum of the Rockies. Opening on Saturday, Jan. 23, “Savage Ancient Seas” will feature more than 30 prehistoric casts and real fossils from specimens that lived in North America as far back as 70 million years ago.
The exhibit will be staged as an ancient aquarium, with some fossils and casts suspended from the ceiling. Many of the specimens will be on display in Montana for the first time.
Highlights of the exhibit include:
- A 45-foot long Bunker Tylosaurus
- An Archelon, one of the largest sea turtles to have lived, sporting a 17-foot flipper span.
- A Pteranodon, with a wingspan more than 20 feet.
- A Xiphactinus, also called the X-fish, one of the largest bony fish from the Western Interior Sea. The specimen on display exceeds 20 feet.
- An Elasmosaurus, the largest species of the long-necked plesiosaurs. The specimen in display is over 40 feet long, and its neck, which is 23 feet long, has more than 70 vertebrae.
At educational kiosks around the exhibit, museum visitors can learn how these creatures lived and became extinct. Visitors can also learn how they sank to the bottom of the sea when they died and turned into fossils amongst layers of sediment.
“Savage Ancient Seas” will run until May 2 and is open daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The exhibit is included in admission and children under the age of four are free. The museum has limited daily admission capacity due to COVID-19 restrictions and face masks are required. More information on visitation policies can be found at https://museumoftherockies.org/visit. For more information on the exhibit visit museumoftherockies.org.
