The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium in Highland Park is welcoming some new — well, actually really, really old — animals.
More than 50 animated lifelike prehistoric figures from 31 species come to life in “Ice Age: Frozen in Time.” Dating back in time 2.58 million years to the deep freeze of the Pleistocene epoch, commonly referred to as the Ice Age, the display is designed to recreate the sights and sounds with realistic movements and sounds of snorting, grunting and rumbling.
Located in the Education Complex courtyard that houses the train yard (the train will return by Halloween time), the large animals have found a home.
The animals include towering mammoths, mastodons, wooly rhinoceroses, saber-tooth cats, ground sloths, the flightless dodo and more.
Visitors will learn about the creatures and their habitats in the walk-through exhibit.
“The centerpiece of the exhibit is an animatronic mammoth towering over 12 feet tall,” Sam Holloway, director of special projects for the zoo, said on Friday. “You will be amazed to see how massive these animals were. The size of a mammoth’s tusks or a saber-tooth cat’s teeth is truly incredible to see firsthand.”
Holloway has spent the past few days working on getting everything just right.
“I’ve been tweaking the sounds,” he said. “We want this to be immersive, not overpowering.”
The sounds the animals make are true to what they sounded like so many years ago.
Each works on a timer.
“I like the movements they have and that they look lifelike,” Holloway said.
Displays with information about each animal were designed and made in-house. They don’t require much maintenance, Holloway said. They had three on loan this winter to let guests know the exhibit was coming and they held up through wind, rain, snow and cold, Holloway said.
“It has truly been a herculean effort by everyone here at the zoo,” Holloway said.
During the Ice Age, vast ice sheets covered large portions of the Earth, particularly in the northern continents. Large land mammals were able to adapt to cold climates. Many are ancestors of current zoo residents and are evidence of how wildlife has evolved over time, Holloway said.
“They offer valuable information to us today about the effects of climate change and the importance of biodiversity,” Holloway said.
The exhibit travels through Immersive Productions in Detroit, Mich. Holloway said they discovered the company when they were looking for projects for future years.
