Interested in prehistoric life, the evolution of various organisms, or other historical sciences? Located in the middle of the Canadian Badlands, just outside Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, lies the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology,. Established in 1985, their mission is to 'collect, preserve, research, and interpret paleontological history with special reference to Alberta's fossil heritage'.
This museum has numerous programs for the public and schools, houses several current exhibits, and frequently features special exhibitions during the years. The current exhibits include:
1. Terrestrial Paleozoic – contains a variety of plants, insects, and amphibians, and covers 200 million years from the Silurian to Permian periods.
2. Ice Age – contains giant wooly mammoths, mastodons, and sabre-toothed tigers and others from two million years ago.
3. Dinosaur Hall – contains one of the major assortments of the most awesome dinosaur skeletons in the world.
4. Age of Mammals – contains the most recent species on the planet including several reptiles and mammals.
5. Devonian Reef – depicts the great marine reefs and ancient plankton abundant to the world 359 million years ago.
6. Lords of the Land – contains the most rare, fragile, and significant species in the museum.
7. Cretaceous Alberta – contains skeletons from the 69 million years ago from a mass grave near Alberta.
8. Burgess Shale – depicts a 505-million-year old undersea world with fossils of 46 creatures once inhabiting the area around the Canadian Rockies.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is a truly fascinating museum, of 47,000 square feet and with several current and special exhibits; it is continually one of the best Paleontology museums in North America.