Getting ahead on the renovations: first exhibit components installed

The museum’s renovations entered a new phase with the recent installation of the first exhibit components in the Alison K. Bradford Global Journey Gallery and the Ellice and Rosa McDonald Foundation PaleoZone. The specimens and models include the African elephant model head, a juvenile humpback whale skull collected by DMNH staff in 2018, a T. rex skull model, and a new array of Cretaceous creatures.

The elephant head was the only one previously on exhibit. Because of its size and weight, rigging was set up by Bruce Industrial to bring it down from the wall in January, and to hang it in its new location as part of the African savanna exhibit. For most of the year, it sat covered up in the museum foyer, under the giant squid, as it was too tall to move into the Ederic Exhibit Hall where the majority of the taxidermy and other exhibit components have been stored. Before reinstallation, the elephant was refurbished by conservators.

The whale skull was restored, articulated, and installed by Dan DenDanto of Whales and Nails in Maine. Preparing a whale skull for exhibit is not a simple task because of the amount of oils in the bones. The humpback whale exhibit is sponsored by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust.

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Entering the PaleoZone, guests will be greeted by a new T. rex model skull. Inside the area, guests are encouraged to explore the Mid-Atlantic during the Cretaceous period with a Dryptosaurus dinosaur, a Nyctosaur soaring through the air, and the aquatic Mosasaurus. The models were created by Research Casting International.