Wembley’s Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum observed a special “shell-a-bration” for their ten-year-old tortoise on January 30th.
Museum officials marked the first anniversary of their reptilian friend Mack the tortoise coming to the dinosaur museum in Wembley with a day full of his favourite activities.
From 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. museum guests were treated to a special event celebrating Mack’s anniversary with a meet and greet, “find the grape” games, and “turtle time” to educate museum-goers on what makes the tortoise so special.
Ashley Kerr, Communications Coordinator for Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, says the day was packed with opportunities for Mack to interact with new friends.
“We had him come out and he met the kids, he did some little activities and little games where he tried to find grapes in cups, so it was a pretty educational experience and the kids loved it,” she says.
While the day was packed with fun, the museum used the opportunity to educate the curious young scholars in attendance both scientifically through a documentary showing and culturally through Indigenous speaker Rebecca Morin, who shared insights on the significance of turtles and tortoises in her culture.
Kerr adds that Mack has become a bit of an unofficial mascot for the museum, due to his social nature, and the love from his fans.
“I would say that Mack has really become the heart of the museum, our handlers here really became more than just his caretakers, and they love Mack, Mack’s a very sociable tortoise, he’s always trying to interact with people, he’s always eating something green.”
Mack continues to serve as a living piece of history for the museum, providing a hands-on learning opportunity for scholars to interact with and witness in real-time, what walked on earth before us.
