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Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs

New Exhibit Opens at the Academy of Natural Sciences

January 12, 2021

 The Academy of Natural Sciences will reopen on Friday, Jan. 8, with a new exhibition, the continuation of a wildlife photography exhibit, and virtual programming for Environmental Justice week starting Jan. 11.

The museum’s hours are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a members-only hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. each day. In addition, the Academy will be open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a members-only hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs

On Jan. 8, Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs makes its long-awaited debut. It was set to open Nov. 20, the day the city ordered museums and other public facilities to temporarily close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Permian Monsters takes visitors on a trip back in time 290 million years to when bizarre-looking creatures dominated life on land and sea, and dinosaurs had not yet evolved. Vivid artwork, amazing fossils and full-size scientifically accurate models of moving beasts to recreate the Permian period that ended with the most devastating mass extinction the world has ever seen.

Visitors will explore odd-looking sharks, strange reptilelike precursors of mammals, a vicious giant saber-toothed gorgonopsid, and other extinct creatures that ruled the world millions of years before the dinosaurs. The Permian lasted from 299 to 251 million years ago and produced the first large plant-eating and meat-eating animals. The period ended with the extinction of 90% of all life.

What caused this mass extinction had baffled scientists for the last 20 years, but a recent discovery shed new light on the cause: global warming. Permian Monsters will be on view through Jan. 17, 2022.

Click here to Purchase Tickets and Visit The Academy of Natural Sciences.  


 

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