“Happy Birthday” to the giant from Plovdiv!

1 to 2 pm I COSMOS Hall I suitable for all ages

It is the 60th anniversary since the discovery of what could rightly be called one of Bulgaria’s most iconic fossils, found near Ezerovo, Plovdivska (Purvomay Municipality). The “giant” in question is a large extinct elephant relative known to science by the genus name Deinotherium.
The fossil can be considered iconic because of its size – 4.65 m high and 6.8 m long (probably weighing over 12 tonnes), mostly complete skeleton, and most famously because of its imposing mounted skeleton in the entrance hall of the University of Sofia Museum of Palaeontology and Historical Geology, Sofia, and a copy of the beast that is on display at the Palaeontological Museum “Dimitar Kovachev”, Asenovgrad. The creature was larger than the largest known African Elephant.
Join Dr. Michael Sandy to hear the story of the discovery of this fossil and also its elephantine relatives and other mammals from Bulgaria from “The Age of Mammals” – the Neozoic. Because many large animal fossils are often (incorrectly) called “dinosaurs”, learn the difference between what is a fossil mammal and what is a fossil dinosaur. The presentation will be illustrated with models and casts of fossils.