Saturday, May 28, 2011

Dinosaurs at Peace River Museum

Let’s compare teeth … Yup, teeth!

Take a look at the picture below and take a guess as to which is a dinosaur tooth and which is a mammoth tooth.

If you guessed dinosaur for the small tooth and mammoth for the large tooth, you’re right!

The small, partial tooth is from an Albertosaurus, a meat-eater that looked a lot like a Tyrannosaurus rex, just a bit smaller and lived during the cretaceous period. Albertosaurus was about 8-9 metres long, 3 metres tall at the hip and weighed up to 3 tonnes. It had short arms with two-fingered hands and long powerful back legs with three-toed feet for speed and agility. The “Alberta Lizard” was first discovered in 1884 by J.B. Tyrrell along the Red Deer River in Alberta.

This Albertosaurus tooth may look small but it would have been razor-sharp 75 million years ago, perfect for tearing flesh.

Contrary to the “Alberta Lizard”, the mammoth was a grazing plant-eater that fed mostly on grasses. They were ancestors to but larger than the modern Asian elephant. They lived during the Pleistocene era, also known as the American Ice Age and died out at the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. They were about 5 metres long, up to 4 metres tall at the shoulder and weighed up to 3 tonnes. Their pointed, curved tusks could be up to 5 metres long, though they usually ranged from 3-3.7metres long.

With how large the mammoths were, they would have spent up to 20 hours a day grazing for food. In that case, it’s fortunate that the mammoths teeth were composed of layers of compressed enamel plates, held together with cementum. This composition made them very strong and resistant to wear, since eating grass is a hard thing to do and really wears at the teeth.

Come and join us to learn more about palaeontology, the study of fossils from past ages, on Thursday, June 16th, 2011. Robin Sissons and Katalin Ormay, palaeontologists from Grande Prairie Regional College will be with us at Athabasca Hall from 12 noon – 1 PM and 3 – 6 PM for public drop in sessions and again at 7:30 PM for a public presentation on Northwest Alberta Palaeontology.

Friday, May 20, 2011

An Afternoon of Chinese Tea event

Thank you to all who attended the Afternoon of Chinese Tea. It was a lovely event filled with a great variety of teas, not only from China, but from a few from Korea and Japan as well. Thank you also to Wend Wagner, of ZenSpa, for bringing her knowledge about the history and culture of tea and her tasty teas.
Here are some photographs from the event:
Wend Wagner, our hostess, demonstrating the proper way to sip tea.

Sonia Rosychuck tests dungulaecha, a Korean tea, which was served cold and used to refresh our palettes in between teas.

The tea table!
A few of our attendees learning about teas.






















We also want to remind everyone that our feature exhibit "Chop Suey on the Prairies: A Reflection on Chinese Restaurants in Alberta" will only be up until May 28th! However, it will also be available to view at Lac Cardinal Pioneer Museum in Grimshaw for the month of June.



Wednesday, May 11, 2011

An Afternoon of Chinese Tea

In conjunction with our current exhibit, "Chop Suey on the Prairies: A Reflection of Chinese Restaurants in Alberta", we will be hosting An Afternoon of Chinese Tea. On Saturday, May 14th, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, Wend Wagner, from ZenSpa, will be at the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre to speak to the art of drinking and serving tea in China. She will offer taste testing of teas from China, as well as Korea and Japan.
The Chop Suey on the Prairies exhibit will run only until the end of May, but will be on display at Lac Cardinal Regional Pioneer Museum for the month of June.

Friday, May 6, 2011

The International Year of the Forest reflected in Art


For the month of May, in honour of  International Year of the Forest and Alberta Forestry Week (May 1 - 7), the Museum's art wall is a dedicated our boreal forest. Contributing artists are: Sonia Rosychuck, Wend Wagner, Rhonda Warren, Trudy Plaizier, Diane Spirig and Marie Laventure.
And just a reminder, there is no admission to see the Peace River Museum Art Wall, and general admission to the Museum is $2 per person.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Results of the Unchaga Run

The Fourth Annual Unchaga Run took place on Shaftesbury Trail on May 1st. There were 154 runners. The top three winners each division were:
5K:
1. Zachary Billard, 22:21.67
2. Andrea Taylor, 25:48.14
3. Liam McCracken, 28:02.28
10k:
1. Brandon Duvall, 39:40.89
2. Ken Wurst, 42:02.14
3. Tammy Burrows, 42:14.05
20k:
1. Joe Larsback, 1:37:30.25
2. Laverna Hards, 1:51:51.08
3. Toni Craig, 1:55:28.09


And here are our runners, preparing to set off!

 An estimated $2500 dollars was raised for the Peace Regional Outreach Campus. Seen below is Stacy Parsons (left), the organizer of the Unchaga Run, presenting a cheque to Outreach staff: Dave Matilpi and Carol vanSlyke and Peace River School Division #10 trustee, Louise Woroniuk.
 


The following volunteers are sincerely appreciated for their help in this event: Lorri, Kevin, Kayla, Ed, Mike, Stacy and Cal. Also, a special thank you goes out to Dave Matilpi for the Blessing.

Sponsors for the event were: InVision Chartered Accountants, Grande Prairie Run and Walk Club, Peace River Running Club, River Rock Restaurant, Peace Safety and Environment Training Ltd., Town of Peace River, Tim Horton's and Wolves Athletic Club.