A common misperception is that they only lived in cold areas (such as Siberia) but that's not true; they were also prevalent in Europe, North America and Africa. Many of their remains are preserved well and discovered in Siberia, though, due to the weather.
Their tusks grew anywhere from 7 to 14 feet long, and they lived alongside humans in certain areas. We saw a diorama display of how humans would hunt them (in groups, with spears), and store their meet in the bottom of lakes in order to preserve it. So, you know, not all that different than how we live today.
We wandered from the special exhibit into their prehistoric area. It was full of other large and scary creatures from the past, including lots of dinosaurs.
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| Kind of makes the American Grizzly bear seem like NBD. |
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| This lovely thing used to feast on sharks...you gotta be glad some things went extinct. |
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| This is a huge version of a wild boar type creature. |
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| For scale... |
The museum had a lot more to offer, but we only had a couple of hours to roam around. We became members of the museum and plan to come back soon to explore their Egyptian displays and American Wildlife area. Apparently they also use their IMAX theater for Sci-Fi nights, showing nerd movies and inviting local scientists to provide funny commentary. G had the membership paperwork filled out and submitted before the woman could even finish her spiel. Let's just say it wasn't a hard sell.
It turns out that Colorado/Wyoming/Utah/South Dakota are full of fossils and prehistoric remains, so I see some exploring in our future...
For my one reader in this area with kids, it's a great place to spend a couple of hours. :)
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