Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land

Free admission

Drawing upon the Museum’s internationally acclaimed fossil collections, the exhibition encapsulates the last 65 million years of Earth’s history (since the extinction of the dinosaurs), using the Florida Platform as the stage on which this fascinating story is told. Learn about some of the Museum’s latest fossil research with images and specimens from the Montbrook dig site in Levy County.

Enter the exhibit past shark jaws ranging in height from 2-9 feet, including the jaw of the extinct giant — Megalodon — largest shark that ever lived.

The exhibition begins with five extinction events described in dioramas that lead visitors onto the Florida Platform at about 65 million years ago, also known as the Dawn of the Age of Mammals.

central island in florida fossils exhibit

Travel around the exhibit’s central island and witness the fossil history of Florida during the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. See Florida’s first land animals and an amazing parade of life through the ages. The exhibit ends with the arrival of humans in Florida near the end of the Pleistocene.

Learn about the latest findings by museum staff and volunteers with more than 30 specimens from the Montbrook site.

Discover the history of the Montbrook site and the process of collecting and cataloging fossils from the field to the lab.

Be visually awed by full skeletal mounts and sculptures in exciting life-like postures, and touch bronze sculptures (one-sixth scale models) of what the animals looked like in life. Each time period includes numerous animals, artwork, video and more.