Ryan Trares
As an Arctic chill settled over central Indiana recently, it felt appropriate to be staring up at the great curved tusks of a woolly mammoth.
Anthony stared up at the skeletal remains of the beast for a moment. Then, the questions started.
“What’s the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon?”
“How big were the glaciers?”
“Was the Ice Age before or after the dinosaurs?”
“Was this a real mammoth?”
“How did he die?”
We had decided to try to beat the cold last weekend with a trip to one of our favorite local attractions — the Indiana State Museum in downtown Indianapolis. With its permanent collection of displays, artifacts, fossils and more, we could take a journey from Indiana’s prehistoric past all the way through modern history.
Anthony loves it. He peers into display cases filled with Native American artifacts, tries his hand at pioneer chores such as churning butter and chopping wood, and watches a model demonstration of how canals work.
But his favorite part is the Ice Age recreation. From the moment we walk through a simulated glacial ice tunnel, he’s stopping at every exhibit and asking every question.
One display always captures his imagination. The museum placard explains how the skeleton of a dire wolf and a prehistoric mammal known as a peccary were found in a cave in southern Indiana, trapped at the bottom of the pit.
Anthony likes to imagine how they got there: “So, did the wolf chase the other animal in? Did he jump in after it, or did he fall? Why couldn’t he get out?”
I love when he asks questions, and try to keep up. But his rapid-fire excitement barely lets me get a word in edgewise.
Moving on, we get to the mammoth and mastodon portion of the museum. Bones from the massive ancient relatives of modern elephants have been found all over Indiana, a fact that Anthony knows using the light-up display showing dozens and dozens of sites throughout the state.
He has us all get on a scale to see how close all of our weight adds up to prehistoric animals such as giant sloths, saber-toothed cats and ultimately a woolly mammoth. Despite our overindulgent holiday season, we didn’t even come close to those giant animals.
Exiting the natural history display, Anthony was full of knowledge and out of questions. We poked around some of the other exhibits, but soon were ready to leave.
Stepping out into the bitter cold, we hustled to our car and headed home. After spending the day in a recreation of the Ice Ages of the past, it seemed like we had stepped into a new one with the Arctic temperatures.
Anthony was quiet in the backseat, watching the snowy landscape pass by.
Maybe he was imagining a woolly mammoth lumbering by?
Ryan Trares is a senior reporter and columnist for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
