The National Taiwan Museum has harnessed the power of technology to enable visitors to interact with extinct animals from the past at an interactive exhibition entitled "Ancient Creatures" running at its Land Bank Exhibition Hall through February 2019.
Applying augmented and virtual reality to paleontological research, curators have come up with inviting scenarios to introduce the ancient creatures that once roamed the earth and populated the oceans:
A Huanghetitan, an herbivorous quadruped that lived in northcentral China during the early Cretaceous Period (145 – 66 million years ago), is walking towards a grassy plain that the sauropods share with pterosaurs. A large bipedal predator known as the Tarbosaurus, however, appears on the horizon…
A paleontologist's wooden desk is covered with scribble-filled notebooks, plaster casts of dinosaur footprints, earthy specimens, and a container of recently excavated fossils that appears to give off a special glint under the light…
The Eritherium, a primitive and diminutive ancestor of the modern elephant, begins its long evolutionary walk during the start of the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago), transforming into the well-known woolly mammoth by the Ice Age (2.58 million – 11,700 years ago). But how?
The National Taiwan Museum has also curated a special section dedicated to sperm whales — toothed whales that were descended from the Physeteroidea superfamily from the late Oligocene epoch (25 million years ago). Displays include ambergris, a waxy whale substance used as a popular fixative in perfumes, the internal organs and structure of these pelagic mammals, and audio equipment for exploring echolocation and underwater vocalization.
The Land Bank Exhibition Hall is a historic site that once served as the Taipei branch office of the Nippon Kangyo Bank in the 1930s. It is now used to house and display the museum's paleontological and ecological displays, including fossils and natural specimens, making it a good destination for those interested in Taiwan's unique and diverse ecosystem.
Please be noted that AR and VR installations are not recommended for children under the age of 6.
‘Ancient Creatures: An Interactive Exhibition’
- Date: Dec. 18, 2018 – Feb. 17, 2019
- Venue: National Taiwan Museum
- Address: No. 2 Xiangyang Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC)
- Site: https://en.ntm.gov.tw/