CORE NEWS FACTS

• Mythic Creatures features preserved specimens and fossils of prehistoric animals to investigate and illustrate how they could have—through imagination, speculation and even fear—inspired the development of some legendary creatures. For instance, Scythian nomads of south-eastern Europe may have mistaken dinosaur fossils for the remains of griffins and narwhal tusks from the North Sea likely offered credibility to the belief in the unicorn.
• The exhibition is divided into sections: Creatures of Water, Creatures of Land, Creatures of the Air and Dragons.
• Visitors come face-to-face with a five-metre dragon; a “life-sized” unicorn and a huge Roc with a wingspan of nearly seven metres, its sharp talons sweeping overhead.
• The exhibition also includes two life-sized models of real creatures: an over two-metre tall extinct primate called Gigantopithecus; and the largest bird ever to have lived, the extinct Aepyornis, standing three metres tall. Other highlights include a “Feejee mermaid,” similar to those made famous by P.T. Barnum, created by sewing the head and torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish; a 37-metre Chinese parade dragon; a Pegasus carousel sculpture; and an 18th century German apothecary sign featuring a unicorn, with an actual narwhal tusk as its horn. 

About the Exhibition

• At the exhibition’s many interactive stations you can touch the lower jaw of Gigantopithecus; handle casts of a narwhal tusk; and examine a life-size reproduction of a Haast’s Eagle talon. Using touch-screens, create your own dragon and then watch it come to life in a virtual environment. Scale models of mammoth bones can be rearranged into a giant human skeleton and Protoceratops bones can be made into a griffin skeleton.
• Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with The Field Museum, Chicago; Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau-Quebec; Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney; and Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta.

Ticket Information

Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids is open to the public from Oct. 9, 2010 to Jan. 9, 2010, free with admission to The Ontario Science Centre. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular admission is $20 for adults; $16 for youth, students (with ID) and seniors, $13 for children (ages 4-12) and free for infants three and under.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.OntarioScienceCentre.ca, at the box office, or by calling 416-696-1000.