GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Mastodon is Michigan's state fossil.
The prehistoric beast that lumbered in the Great Lakes region before the lakes were really even there to begin with.
Now, a few thousand years later the bones of a mastodon found near Kent City are set to be displayed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
The exhibit, titled Ice Age: Michigan's Frozen Secrets, showcases creatures from the Pleistocene period, including our wooly wanderer.
Last summer, the Kent County Drain Commission unearthed the bones on private property owned by the Clapp family, and the owners decided to donate them to the museum.
Archaeologists later learned that the animal likely died at just ten years old.
Most of the bones are still in the process of drying, but a selection of the Clapp Family Mastodon’s bones will be on display beginning Saturday, May 20.
The museum gave some community members a sneak peek of the exhibit on Thursday.
The exhibits will be on display until Sunday, September 3.
