Did you know we are living in an Ice Age? We’re actually in the fifth major ice age in Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history; with permanent ice sheets at both the north and south poles.
Now through May 3, travel through Earth’s frozen past, present and future at Fernbank Museum’s Planet Ice. Through immersive storytelling, interactive displays and over 100 striking specimens, this exhibit brings more than 80,000 years of Earth’s history to life. Experience landscapes sculpted by glaciers, meet a saber-toothed cat, create your own digital snowflake, ponder how we can stem the threats of a warming climate and much more.
“As guests walk through the exhibit, they can see how ice has shaped our planet and how animals and humans need the cold to survive,” said Maria Moreno, Fernbank Program Manager and content expert for Planet Ice exhibit.
Travel back to the height of glaciation and explore adaptations to survive in a frozen environment.
“Some of these animals are still alive today [such as the life-size caribou, musk ox and grey wolf] and you can see their ancestors,” said Alistair, a Fernbank Discovery Center volunteer. The Asian elephant is the closest living relative to the extinct woolly mammoth, which had more hair, thicker skin and more fat. “Over time hair on elephants became sparser to avoid overheating,” he added.
Face a heat-sensing camera to see lighter colors on your face, denoting warmth, contrasted with the dark colors of colder air around you. Guests can also stand face-to-face with hyper-realistic models of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals. Their nasal passages were almost 30% larger than ours in order to warm and moisten large amounts of cold dry air. Neanderthals also developed tools to make clothes, build shelter, hunt and prepare food.
“Check out the [sensor activated] raven, known in indigenous stories as a trickster,” Moreno encouraged. “It can be hard to find food in the snow and ice, so they pretend to hide food in front of other ravens to conceal their real hiding spot.”
Witness the power of shifting or melting ice over time of Beringia, the now submerged land bridge, once a migration route for humans and animals between Russia and Canada. An interactive shows the submersion progression over 200,000-year period. The advance and retreat of glaciers also carved out much of the North American landscape, like our Great Lakes, as new ecosystems emerged.
Those ecosystems included giant animals who once roamed North America, but became extinct likely from increased competition for food and hunting. See the towering skeletal model of the short-faced bear that weighed about two tons, double the weight of a modern brown bear.
“See how tall the bear is and I’m so tall,” a father said to his son. He just purchased an annual Fernbank membership. “I’m starting to homeschool him and I want this to be part of the curriculum.” Other caregivers use the signage in English and Spanish to practice language skills.
The exhibit also explores how the cold impacts us today – from glaciers that hold about 70% of all fresh water on Earth, to cold temperatures needed for fruit production, disease prevention, ice fishing and more.
“Look, you go out onto the ice, drill a hole and go fishing” a grandmother explained to her two young grandchildren as they rush into the ice fishing shack. “Would you do this?” she asks them. They respond “yes” in unison. The three members visit the museum at least monthly. “We saw the movie beforehand. You can’t go wrong with a wooly mammoth,” the grandmother shared. The film “Titans of the Ice Age”, in the Giant Screen Theater follows a baby woolly mammoth and her herd as they search for food and thwart predators.
Towards the end of the exhibit, contemplate the future of ice on the planet. If Arctic glaciers melt as Earth’s climate warms – the consequences could be dire.
“Without ice we would be underwater and there is a very scary depiction of that,” Moreno said.” That’s why the advocacy section is my favorite part of the exhibit.”
Even though half of all atmospheric CO₂ released by humans was produced in just the last 30 years, there’s a lot people can do to help maintain ice on Earth, through our food and transportation choices, powering energy by renewable sources like wind and solar, and continued advocacy.
So as guests journey through the exhibit from Earth’s frozen past to its fragile future, Moreno asks them to consider “How does ice does impact our day-to-day lives and what happens when it’s not around?”
