Morden is a small Manitoba city near the border with the U.S. but it is becoming known for a couple of big things.
First came the fossil, then a life-sized outdoor replica of a mosasaur, a fearsome 15 metre aquatic creature, and now a life-sized outdoor replica of an ancient turtle.
It is the latest addition to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in the small city and will be officially unveiled on Friday,
The replica mosasaur was commissioned to go along with a mosasaur skeleton found in a nearby farm field in 1974.
Since then several more mosasaur specimens have been found along with other ancient fossils of creatures which would have been around in the ancient sea which covered much of central North America during the Cretaceous Period, between 65 million and 135 million years ago from the Arctic Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, including almost of the current prairie provinces of Canada.
On it’s website the CFDC quotes Executive Director Peter Cantelon saying, “The CFDC wants to see the museum expand into the public space”, said Executive Director of the CFDC, Peter Cantelon. “By adding these high-quality, accurate, life-sized renditions of marine reptiles that used to live here, we allow people to connect with the deepest part of our history. It’s educational, it’s fun. It attracts tourists and tourism revenue to the city. And it instills a sense of pride in our unique heritage”
The CFDC has some fossil remains of the archelon turtle which would have been one of the residents of that ancient sea. The life-sized replica is four-and-a-half metres wide and was made by a resident of the city who had previous career making dinosaur statues in Spain.
While the museum’s mosasaur has been named Bruce, the centre is now asking for name suggestions for this latest edition.
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