Museum of the Earth facts for kids
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| Established | 2003 |
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| Location | 1259 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca, New York |
| Visitors | 30,000 |
| Architect | Weiss/Manfredi |
| Ithaca Discovery Trail | |
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The Museum of the Earth is a cool natural history museum in Ithaca, New York. It opened in 2003. The museum is part of the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI). This is an organization that studies the history of Earth and its life. Both the PRI and the museum are connected to Cornell University. The Museum of the Earth has awesome Earth science exhibits. It also shows science-related art. The museum focuses on how Earth and life have changed together over time.
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Museum History: How It Started
In 1994, the leaders of PRI decided to plan a museum. This museum would help share their mission. They got $2 million from the state to start. In 1999, they began designing the Museum of the Earth.
Building the museum started in 2001. It was finished in 2003. The whole project cost more than $11 million. The museum officially opened its doors on September 29, 2003.
The museum building is about 18,000 square feet. It was designed by Weiss/Manfredi, an architecture firm from New York. The building looks like a gorge, which is a deep valley. It has two parts with an open space in the middle. In 2004, the museum's design won an award for excellent architecture.
Explore the Exhibits
The museum has several amazing permanent exhibits. These include North Atlantic Right Whale #2030, Rock of Ages, Sands of Time, and A Journey Through Time.
Meet North Atlantic Right Whale #2030
North Atlantic Right Whale #2030 was a huge whale. Sadly, it got caught in fishing gear in 1999. Rescuers tried to help, but the whale swam away. It traveled hundreds of miles before it died from its injuries.
The museum's director, Warren D. Allmon, wanted to get the whale's skeleton. He heard about the dead whale in October 1999. It was a 44-foot-long right whale. The museum could have the skeleton if they helped clean its huge body.
Three days later, the bones arrived at the museum. They were buried in horse manure for months. This helped remove any leftover flesh and oil. After cleaning, the skeleton was put together on a metal frame. The museum building was left open on one side. This allowed the giant whale skeleton to be brought inside. In November 2002, a crane lifted the skeleton into the museum lobby.
By 2004, a permanent exhibit about the whale was ready. It includes baleen (filter plates from the whale's mouth). There's also a short film. It shows the sad attempts to rescue the whale.
Rock of Ages, Sands of Time Mural
Rock of Ages, Sands of Time is a giant mural. It has 544 paintings by artist Barbara Page. Each painting is 11x11 inches. Each one represents 1 million years of Earth's history. The mural covers the last 544 million years. This goes from the Cambrian Explosion to today.
Each painting shows life-size images of fossils. These fossils are from that specific time period. Some images are flat, and some are slightly raised. The background of each tile shows the common rocks from that time. The images are based on real fossils from the museum's collections. The whole mural is about 500 feet long. It's displayed along a ramp that leads visitors to the lower exhibits. There's also a book with pictures of each painting. It explains the science behind them.
A Journey Through Time Exhibit
A Journey Through Time takes visitors on an amazing trip. It covers four billion years of history. This goes from the Big Bang to today. It also looks at how humans affect Earth's future. The exhibit explores how Earth processes work. It also covers evolution and biodiversity (the variety of life).
You'll see many different fossils from the museum's collections. This includes the largest complete fossil eurypterid (sea scorpion) ever found. The exhibit has sections about the Devonian period in Central New York. It also covers the Triassic and Jurassic periods. Highlights include the Hyde Park Mastodon and the Discovery Labs. There are also coral reef aquariums and a glacier exhibit. You can watch short films narrated by geologist Frank H.T. Rhodes. Don't miss Steggy the Stegosaurus and Amelia the Quetzalcoatlus! There's even a garden that looks like the Ice Age landscape. It has plants from cold places and big rocks moved by glaciers.
The Hyde Park Mastodon
The Hyde Park mastodon was found in 1999. A family in Hyde Park, New York, was digging a pond in their yard. They noticed some unusual-looking "logs." These turned out to be bones of an American mastodon. In June 2000, museum staff and volunteers started digging up the site. They found more mastodon bones.
The dig took about six weeks. More than 95% of the bones were found. This included both tusks, the skull, and major leg bones. This makes the Hyde Park mastodon one of the most complete skeletons ever found! It was likely an older male. It weighed as much as 10,000 to 15,000 pounds. The museum also collected 22,000 pounds of dirt from the site. Volunteers helped sort through it in a project called the Mastodon Matrix Project.
After the dig, the skeleton went to the University of Michigan. There, it was studied, and a copy of the bones was made. Then it went to Alberta, Canada, for a metal frame to be built. In September 2003, the Hyde Park mastodon was put on display at the Museum of the Earth.
Hands-On Discovery Labs
The museum's Discovery Labs offer fun, hands-on learning.
- The Prep Lab: Watch scientists get specimens ready for study and display.
- The Fossil Lab: Search for and identify fossils in local shale rock.
- The Dino Zone: A dinosaur-themed play area for younger kids.
Colorful Coral Reef Aquariums
The coral reef exhibit is in the Ice Age section. It features reefs from the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. Both aquariums are designed to be accurate and teach about the environment. They also show how important it is to protect these amazing places.
Cool Glacier Exhibit
The glacier exhibit was built for the museum's 10th anniversary. Visitors can learn about glaciers and their impact on the Finger Lakes region. You can even walk through an interactive ice cave!
Steggy the Stegosaurus
Steggy the Stegosaurus is a special gift to the museum. It came from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. This life-size model is made of papier-mâché. It was first built in 1904 for a big exhibition. It was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution for over 100 years. In 2015, Steggy was fixed up and moved to the Museum of the Earth. You can find Steggy near the Dino Zone, in the museum's Jurassic area.
Amelia the Quetzalcoatlus
In 2016, Amelia the Quetzalcoatlus also moved to the Museum of the Earth. It came with Steggy from the National Museum of Natural History. This model pterosaur was named after Amelia Earhart. This happened after a month-long naming contest. Amelia now lives next to Steggy in the Jurassic area of A Journey Through Time.
Educational Fun for Everyone
The Museum of the Earth wants to reach many different people. It has things that appeal to kids and adults. It's also great for scientists and non-scientists. Because it's connected to Cornell University, the museum also helps teachers with resources.
Meet Cecil A. Physis, the Mascot!
Cecil A. Physis is a Coelophysis. He is the Museum of the Earth's official mascot! You can see a life-size bronze statue of Cecil near the museum's entrance. A sculptor from Brazil created it. Dinosaur fossils are rare in Central New York. The only known ones are small footprints from Coelophysis. So, this species is called "New York's only known dinosaur." A running Coelophysis is on the logos of PRI and the Museum of the Earth. The museum also has three Coelophysis footprints preserved in rock.
The Discovery Trail
The Museum of the Earth is part of Ithaca's Discovery Trail. This trail connects the museum with seven other educational places. These include the Cayuga Nature Center and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Discovery Trail started in 1999.
