Fossil Gallery                 Now Open

Past & Present's Gallery Expansion is Nearing Completion!

                                                                                                                                                       Work is now complete on the second phase of Past & Present's museum expansion. Renovations have added over 500 square feet of exhibit space devoted to the earth sciences, with a large focus on fossils and minerals. Our new fossil gallery features many of our old specimens, and showcases many new additions. We are currently working on an exhibit dedicated to New York State and Southern Ontario fossils and minerals. 

Our fossil gallery features fossils from around the world, from our Cretaceous dinosaur site in South Dakota (prepared and unprepared fossils), and fossils of Western New York. We have many permanent displays on fossils, along with various rotating exhibits. Also on display are exhibits on Pleistocene mammals, sharks, fish, reptiles and amphibians, and much much more. We also have a "Fossil of the Month" exhibit, featuring a different fossil each month. Teachers and students, scout groups, and individuals have enjoyed and supported our efforts to help this project succeed.

On display is our 9' tall leg from the dinosaur  Edmontosaurus from our field site in South Dakota. This last collecting season, we were able to add a sacrum and ribs, along with a few metacarpals and metatarsals from an Edmontosaur to our collection. We eventually hope to be able to reconstruct much of this hadrosaur for our museum. Also on display are 2 life size shark jaw models of the prehistoric marine predator Carcharodon megalodon. (One has real teeth).

                                                                                                                                                             

Click on a thumbnail photo from our museum to enlarge!

        

 

    

       Fossil of the Month 

This yet to be determined species of shark comes from the Middle Cretaceous (approximately 100 million years ago) Lagerstatten of Hjoula, Lebanon. This unusual, near complete specimen retained most of its cartilaginous skeleton, along with skin and the dermal denticles (skin teeth). 

Previous Fossil of the Month

This feature fossil from our museum is an egg from the Pleistocene bird Aepyornis, or Elephant bird. Compared to the modern ostrich that can weigh 350 pounds, this giant native of Madagascar stood eight feet tall and could weigh over 1000 pounds, making it one of the largest birds to ever walk the Earth. The egg of the Elephant bird was 12 to 13 inches long, and could hold up to 2 gallons of fluid. This bird became extinct at the end of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago.

Elephant bird egg on left compared to modern ostrich egg on the right                                                                                                                                  

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Past & Present
3767 South Park Avenue • Blasdell, NY 14219
(716) 825-2361
fossils1@verizon.net