LaPaz Home Learning

Nothing like a trip to the natural science museum to put you in your place–in both time and space.
Think you are big?

Think again. (Ursus arctos horribilis aka Grizzly bear)
Think you are old?

Think again. (Panthera leo atrox aka the extinct American Lion)
Since JBug has been studying how people first came to the Americas, following mammoth and other ice-age animals across the Bering land bridge into Alaska, we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks today to visit their excellent collection of ace-age animal artifacts.

They have an actual mummified baby mammoth, Blue babe-a preserved ice-age steppe bison carcass that was killed by an American lion 36,000 years ago (!!!) , lots of mammoth and mastodon tusks and bones, and so many other cool artifacts.

(Mastodon tooth vs mammoth tooth.  Can you tell which is which?)
Also of interest was their awesome mineral collection with, as you can imagine this being Alaska, some incredible gold nuggets. JBug was obviously pretty impressed with this huge crystal:

(Amethyst crystal and JBug ridiculus)

It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. So head to your local museum for a real blast from the past!