By LOIS KINDLEv
The huge skull of a glyptodont, a prehistoric relative of the armadillo, is the newest item on display at the Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum at Camp Bayou in Ruskin.
The ancient mammal lived in the Tampa Bay area, including Ruskin, near streams, creeks and tributaries during the middle to late Pleistocene epoch, also known as the Ice Age. Up to 5 feet tall and weighing more than 2 tons, the giant herbivore “was the size of a Volkswagen Beetle,” said Patty Moore, the museum’s board president, treasurer and volunteer coordinator.
As seen in this display of giant sloth fossils, the Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum is in need of a couple of volunteers to help standardize labeling of items in its cases. For information, call 813-677-6424.
Paleo Preserve Board President Patty Moore shows a frontal view of a casted glyptodont skull now on display.
LOIS KINDLE PHOTOs
Patty Moore, board president of the Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum in Ruskin, holds the casted skull of a prehistoric relative of the armadillo – a glyptodont.
This skull is one of the newer items on display at the Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum in Ruskin – the Titanus walleri, more commonly known as Waller’s terror bird, a predatory, flightless, prehistoric ostrich that grew to be about 5 feet tall.
LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
In its two buildings, the Paleo Preserve, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, features all kinds of actual fossils, photographs and newspaper articles from the Leisey Shell Pit excavation in Ruskin and fossils and shells from all over the world, some dating back to the age of dinosaurs.
Some glyptodonts had clubbed tails, similar to ankylosaurid dinosaurs.
“While the glyptodont actually lived in the Leisey Shell Pit area of Ruskin, this particular skull cast was of a species that lived in South America,” she added. “We purchased it from a Colorado supplier named Robert Gaston, who even has a full-size Glyptodon skeleton. He has molds of all kinds of prehistoric animals, including dinosaurs and mammals.
Moore said the Paleo Preserve Board chose the glyptodont because of its size and unusualness.
“It’s different from anything we have here,” she said.
The museum’s collection includes prehistoric mammals, reptiles (alligators, crocodiles and turtles) and birds.
“It’s special to Ruskin,” said Moore, a Paleo Preserve volunteer for the past 10 years. “There’s so much we have to offer the community; much like the Firehouse Cultural Center and Ruskin Drive-in, we have so much to offer the community.”
The all-volunteer Paleo Preserve Museum is at 4140 24th Street SE, Ruskin, on the grounds of the Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center. It’s open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., during major Camp Bayou events and by appointment.
Admission is free.
Donations are always appreciated.
The Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum is at 4140 24th Street SE, Ruskin, at Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center. Filled with hundreds of labeled fossils, it’s open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment. Admission is free.
In May 2024, the GFWC Sun City Center Woman’s Club donated $1,000 to the Paleo Preserve, and the funding helped purchase Megalodon Shark tooth fragments, given out to “fossil hunters” who dig in the Paleo Preserve pit, and also the purchase of the Glyptodon skull, Moore said.
An adult volunteer is needed to open and close the museum on a Saturday, greet visitors, and provide information and “tours” of the Paleo Preserves two buildings. A couple of volunteers are also needed for a special project of standardizing fossil labeling in the museum’s display cases. If interested in pitching in, call 813-677-6424 and leave a message.
To learn more about the Paleo Preserve, visit Paleo Preserve at the Litttle Manatee River, its Facebook page or email info@paleopreserve.com/.