‘A mammoth display’: Peterborough museum showcases Ice Age Mammals

The Peterborough Museum and Archives is drawing lots of crowds during March break, who are coming to see the newest and largest exhibit, Ice Age Mammals.

“It’s what we like to call a ‘mammoth display,'” said Kim Reid, curator for Peterborough Museum and Archives.

“It’s both upstairs and downstairs, which is something we’ve never done before.”

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The exhibit is also the largest display the museum has ever housed, an endeavour that took almost a year of planning, Reid said.

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“Because of its size, we were concerned that a) it wouldn’t fit the facility.” The second concern, Reid added, is the exhibit’s high cost, which meant it had to receive external funding from the federal government’s Department of Canadian Heritage.

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Still, there’s no place better than this city to house the exhibit, according to Reid.

“Peterborough being sort of in between Toronto and Ottawa, it’s an ideal place for us to have any kind of exhibit like this because we’re like a hub,” said Reid.

The display is getting quite the attention, which is usually expected from a blockbuster exhibit.

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The Peterborough Museum also got the exhibit just in time, since it discusses the effects of a timely topic: climate change.

“It is the number one hot topic if you want to put that way on the planet these days,” Reid said, “so yes, this is a chance to come up and learn what happens during a climate change, what we lose.”

Eight-year-old Will was visiting the museum with his family and was taken aback to learn about climate change.

“I’m really shocked about how high the ice used to be,” Will said.