October Saturday Club takes on Mesozoic monsters
Children 7 to 14 will learn about the most chilling and thrilling prehistoric creatures and compare them to classic movie monsters during the Oct. 5 Saturday Club session “Mesozoic Monsters.”
“Mesozoic Monsters” will be taught by guest presenter Shaedon Kennedy. “This topic I thought would make for an interesting Saturday Club because Halloween is on the horizon, and many topics in paleontology can be compared to classic movie monsters, as most of the time, the frightening creatures in fiction are based on real-life animals,” he said. In addition, Kennedy will explain fight or flight responses and how, based on the morphology of certain animals, living or extinct, someone can tell which response they might have chosen and why.
Participants will also learn how some prehistoric animals developed the necessary adaptations to fight or flee, how fossil mummies are formed, and how scientists put together composite skeletons in museums. Finally, students will test their compositing skills by assembling their own dinosaur skeleton puzzle.
Kennedy, a dual University of Wyoming and Casper College student is working on his bachelor’s degree in biology. According to Dalene Hodnett, director of museums, Kennedy has worked at the Tate Geological Museum for three years and is interested in using the museum setting to teach students and adults about the unique worlds of bygone eras and how we learn about them in the present.
The Tate Geological Museum’s Saturday Club is free and runs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Tate is located on the southern end of the Casper College campus; look for the life-sized T. rex bronze near the Tate or call the museum at 307-268-2447.