Just when you thought it couldn't get any bigger, any bolder, any colossal, along comes a giant elephant from Java to kick off Mercyhurst College's fourth annual Sincak Natural History Exhibit of museum quality fossils and casts beginning October 5.

Since its beginning, this signature exhibit has taken the wow factor to incredible lengths, from the original headliner, T-Rex; to an extinct relative of the Great White Shark; to last year’s duck-billed dinosaur from China.  This year’s main attraction – the cast of an extinct species of giant elephant from Java known as Stegodont – is so enormous that Mercyhurst’s Cummings Gallery, the exhibit’s usual venue, can’t accommodate it. Little wonder - it is 20 feet long and stands 13.5 feet tall.

As in recent years, the exhibit is free and open to the public. It will be available for viewing during TREC’s regular business hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and TREC has also planned some additional educational experiences reminiscent of the Ice Ages. 

“Ice Ages reflects on an extended period of time when our species and our human forebears experienced a dozen or so major glaciations of the northern hemisphere, resulting in the extinction of mammals like mammoths and saber tooth cats,” McKenzie explained. “This year’s collection will feature a large display of these Ice Age animals for the public to enjoy.”

Besides the cast of Stegodont, the collection will also include some actual bones of the ancient elephant, along with the cast of a woolly rhino.

The exhibit also encores a big audience pleaser – the cast of a giant set of shark jaws – as well as introduce fossils sure to elicit a few oohs and aahs. Among them: a hair sample from a frozen Siberian mammoth; a fat-oozing mammoth bone from Alaska; and a sample of stomach contents from a mastodon.

For more information about the exhibit, call 824-2382; or regarding viewing hours and related activities, call TREC at 833-7424.