The Victoria Palaeontology Society will hold its 17th Fossil Fair on March 23-24, 2013, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary, 3873 Swan Lake Road in Victoria. Admission is by donation.
The Fossil Fair will display a rich and diverse variety of ancient fossil animals and plants from the Cambrian (550 million years ago) to the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago). Fossils will be displayed from Vancouver Island, other parts of British Columbia and other areas. The fossils include dinosaur bones, ammonites, trilobites, corals, mollusks, insects, giant palm leaves and microscopic fossils.
“Among the displays will be 25 million year old Sooke Formation fossils from the Muir Creek area which may be of interest to the Sooke community,” writes Tom Cockburn, the Vice-Chair of the Victoria Palaeontology Society in an email.
Special displays will include:
Large fossil teeth (loaned by Royal British Columbia Museum) and information about extinct sea mammals called Desmostylids that lived on the Pacific coast, including Vancouver Island;
A poster that transforms a large fossil ammonite into an in-life image, bringing visitors eye-to-eye with the extinct giant cephalopod;
An initiative to designate a Provincial Fossil for British Columbia.
The Fossil Fair is an educational experience for all age groups. The public is invited to bring in fossils for identification. Specific activities for children include a sandbox fossil dig, fossil scavenger hunt with prizes, fossil colouring and rubbings and looking through microscopes.
The Victoria Palaeontology Society cooperates with professional palaeontologists undertaking research on fossils collected by society members. Information will be provided on some of the scientific contributions made by members, including the discovery and naming of new species. All scientifically important fossils are donated to the RBCM. The Society is a member of the British Columbia Paleontological Alliance, an umbrella organization representing the interests of a number of paleontological organizations in the province.
Visit www.vicpalaeo.org for more information.