LAFAYETTE, La. — If you head over to the Lafayette Science Museum, you'll find yourself surrounded by, perhaps, the largest pieces of Louisiana's history.
"Most of us are used to the flora and fauna of Louisiana. We have deer. We have nutria. We have otters. We have squirrel," said Kevin Krantz from the Lafayette Science Museum. "Let's go back 11,000 years, the wildlife was completely different."
Mastodons, mammoths, saber tooth tigers, bison, giant ground sloths—"a whole different list of animals than what we have today," Krantz said.
You can see them all in the new 'Prehistoric Louisiana' exhibit at the Lafayette Science Museum.
"We have large casts, which are based off of the real fossils, but then we have real skeletons...tusks of a mastodon that was found here locally, as well as a whole list of small fossils," Krantz said.
All of the animals you see in the exhibit once roamed the lands of Acadiana. There are fossils from Jefferson Island, Avery Island and Acadia Parish, ranging from little animals with tiny, sharp teeth to gigantic animals with big, sharp teeth.
There are also scenes depicting a typical day in Acadiana during the Ice Age and interactive activities throughout the exhibit.
You can visit the exhibit at the Lafayette Science Museum on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For ticket prices or to purchase a ticket to the museum, visit the Lafayette Science Museum website here.
