Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The new special exhibit at the Museum of the Earth 'Secrets of the Skull: From Titanoboa to Tuatara' opens Saturday, June 30, 2018. Over 100 skulls--from tiny bird skulls to giant Triceratops and whale skulls—are on display in this new exhibit, which runs through the end of the year. Learn how nature has shaped a complex structure to protect vertebrates' brain and sensory organs. Every vertebrate's skull is beautifully adapted for its unique role in the web of life. The exhibit focuses on both how skulls have evolved over the millennia, and how their unique forms are optimized for various functions including housing the sensory organs, diet, defense, and mating display.

Over more than 400 million years, nature has shaped a structure to protect the brain and sensory organs in vertebrates. That structure is the skull. Every part of it supports a specific function, including food ingestion, sensory perception, and impact absorption. It is a protective container for the brain and may also support defensive structures like horns. The skull, shaped and modified by millions of years of adaptation, is a thing of complexity and beauty. Although skulls vary in size and structure, there is similarity among this diversity. Come discover the features that skulls have in common and how they allow us to trace their evolutionary history and life stories. Explore the skull's many interlocking parts and each of their functions.

'Secrets of the Skull: From Titanoboa to Tuatara' will be on display from June 30 to December 31, 2018 at the Museum of the Earth.

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