Wheaton College prepares mastodon for move

Moving day is almost here for Perry, Wheaton College's restored mastodon skeleton.

The creature's 13,500-year-old fossil remains will be carefully loaded onto a flatbed truck Thursday and taken across campus from its home in Armerding Hall to a perch in the new Science Center.

The public is invited to come out and watch the 16-foot-long, 9-foot-tall mastodon's journey to its new digs between 1 and 2:30 p.m. A party will be held after Perry's processional in the plaza west of the Todd M. Beamer Center, 421 Chase St.

"We're very excited about the move," said Bruce Koenigsberg, the college's architect. "I am pleased that the college has promoted it as a celebratory and fun event."

Koenigsberg said Perry has become known nationwide since it was unearthed in 1963 in Glen Ellyn.

The first large bone was discovered in October 1963 during excavation work for a pond on the property of U.S. Federal District Court Judge Joseph Sam Perry. Geologists at Wheaton College identified the bone as the femur of a fossil proboscidean, officials said.

Judge Perry gave Wheaton's geology department permission to excavate the site and then donated the 115 bones that were found to the college.

The mastodon was reconstructed to show its skeleton on the left and a Fiberglas body covered in shaggy brown hair on the right.

Originally thought to be roughly 10,500 years old, the skeleton recently was found to be 3,000 years older, according to Dorothy Chappell, dean of natural and social sciences. Recent conservation work on the skeleton by Evanston-based Litas Liparini Restoration Studios also has resulted in a more realistic look.

"It's a very valuable specimen," Chappell said. "So it has a huge value to our campus."

For decades, the mastodon has played a significant role in science education for Wheaton College students, as well as for campus visitors, officials said.

"We have hundreds, if not thousands, of people every year come and visit Perry," Chappell said.

Koenigsberg said Methods and Materials of Chicago will handle Thursday's move. While there's "a bit of risk" transporting the mastodon, he said, that risk is minimized because of Methods and Materials' experience in moving artifacts.

"They moved a dinosaur into the Field Museum," he said, "so this might be small potatoes for them."

Two of the mastodon's legs have been removed in preparation for the move. Still, Koenigsberg said the rest of Perry isn't very heavy because the Fiberglas body is light.

Perry's new exhibit is scheduled to open Sept. 1. College officials said the display will feature more bones to examine and additional information about what scientists have learned about the mastodon and its environment.

<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p>

<p class="News"><b>What:</b> Mastodon move </p>

<p class="News"><b>When:</b> 1 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, May 27</p>

<p class="News"><b>Where</b>: The plaza west of the Todd M Beamer Center, 421 Chase St., on the campus of Wheaton College</p>

<p class="News"><b>Info:</b> <a href="http://wheaton.edu" target="new">wheaton.edu</a></p>