Opening of RETHINK EXTINCT exhibit at the Buffalo Museum of Science
*The event has already taken place on this date: Thu, 04/30/2015
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“Extinction is commonly perceived to be just a thing of the past,” says Mark Mortenson, president and CEO of the BMS. “This new permanent exhibit will not only educate our guests on the scientific processes and tools paleontologists use to investigate our planet’s history, but that significant species extinction is happening today.”
Rethink Extinct will take guests on a journey through time, starting in the Paleozoic Era 542 million years ago, to explore the past – and the future – of life on Earth. Ever since the most basic of organisms began populating our planet, Earth has experienced at least five mass extinctions that have driven more than half of all life to extinction in relatively short periods of time.
The story of Rethink Extinct is told and experienced through interactive displays as well as dinosaurs, mastodons, fossils, and other specimens – both extinct and threatened by extinction – from the Museum’s collections. The Fossil Search experience, sponsored by First Niagara Foundation, will provide an understanding of ground penetrating radar which paleontologists utilize as an alternative or precursor to digging. In addition to this experience, guests can excavate fossils in a dig pit, explore paleontological processes through touch-screen displays, and examine rare specimens of endangered animals, plants and other creatures.
Museum guests may investigate events that made the headlines in Earth’s history, learn why extinction is necessary for the ongoing diversity of life, and discover how human actions may be a catalyst for the next mass extinction.
“Deforestation, global warming, poaching, pollution… human impact is becoming a larger threat to plant and animal species around the world. We hope to educate our guests on how extinction is not just a natural occurrence and that we can help prevent future extinctions by making small lifestyle changes,” adds Mortenson.
Rethink Extinct also features the restoration of the Museum’s treasured Bermuda Coral Reef diorama; a treasured piece of the Museum’s history designed and built by Henri, George and Paul Marchand. The diorama was originally unveiled to Museum guests in 1933 but has not been on display to the public since the 1990s.
Generous support for Rethink Extinct comes from The John R. Oishei Foundation, Mary Louise Olmsted Fund in partnership with Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, First Niagara Foundation, and the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences Board of Managers.
Entry to Rethink Extinct is included with general museum admission ($10 adults, $9 seniors, $8 children 2-17) and free for BMS Members and children under 2.
Rethink Extinct is the only exhibit of its kind, created and designed in partnership with BMS staff and Kraemer Design & Production of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rethink Extinct is the sixth of eight permanent interactive exhibits the BMS will install by summer 2016. The new Biodiversity exhibit will open in October 2015 and an aerospace exhibit will open in spring/summer 2016 alongside the restoration and reopening of the Museum’s rooftop observatory.
For more information on Rethink Extinct or the rest of the Museum’s newest exhibit spaces, visit http://www.sciencebuff.org/exhibits/.
About the Buffalo Museum of Science
Committed to inspiring curiosity through exploration, the Buffalo Museum of Science is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to providing relevant science programming and services to children, families, adults, and schools in the Buffalo Niagara region. Through exhibits and interactive science studios designed for multi-generational learning, the Museum showcases its extensive collections of over 700,000 specimens and artifacts representing all facets of the natural world with an emphasis on Western New York. Opened in 1929 in Buffalo’s Olmsted-designed Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, the Museum is currently installing eight permanent interactive science studios to transform its visitor experience by 2016. The Museum also operates Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo, a 264-acre urban wetland preserve on reclaimed former industrial land. Learn more at www.sciencebuff.org.
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