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Last Chance to View Randolph Mammoth at RTPI
The “Randolph Mammoth” is one of the most unusual objects of local natural history ever displayed in our area. And if you haven’t seen it yet you’re almost out of time. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History has been privileged to exhibit the enormous tusks and full-scale replica of the find, which dates back 12,000 years. The last day to see it on public display at the Institute is Wednesday, February 12.
Pond excavators made the discovery of the mammoth at the state fish hatchery near Randolph, NY, in 1934. Since then the specimens have been curated at the New York State Museum in Albany. The Peterson Institute arranged with Dr. Robert S. Feranec, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the museum, to borrow the specimen, and has been displaying it in its Anderson Gallery for the past three years.
Now the specimens will head back east, to go on display at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton.
The Randolph Mammoth will soon be leaving the Peterson Institute. Shown is Glenn Woodmancy, who grew up in Randolph and was there to witness the fossil excavation in 1934.
The Randolph Mammoth is one of the most complete mammoth specimens ever found in New York State; most other mammoth material is fragmentary or just a tooth from here or there. It is a Columbian Mammoth not a woolly mammoth. Both tusks together weigh about 150 lbs. The skull weighs about 200 lbs. When living, the mammoth probably stood about 14 feet high at the shoulder.
In connection with the Randolph Mammoth leaving the Institute, Dr. Feranec will present a program at the Institute on Monday, February 24 at 7:00 PM titled, “Carbon Dating the Megafauna of New York at the End of the Ice Age”. Admission to the illustrated talk is free and open to the public; donations are appreciated.
