Giant Ground Sloth Is Focus of July Public Lecture at MDC

This lecture is FREE but registration is required. CLICK HERE to register.

Fans of fossils will have a unique treat at the Marine Discovery Center’s July Public Lecture when the giant ground sloth is the featured monthly topic.
Zach Zacharias, senior curator of education and curator of history at the Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) in Daytona Beach, will be the guest presenter on Thursday, July 21, at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held in MDC’s Learning Lab.

The presentation focuses on the story of the discovery and preservation of the museum’s world-class giant ground sloth specimen. One of the most significant discoveries of giant ground sloths in North America, fossils of this mammal were unearthed at Reed Canal in South Daytona in 1975.

The giant ground sloth was one of the largest land mammals to walk the Earth and was the largest in Florida. This presentation also focuses on the biology of this unique animal and the other mega-fauna that lived alongside of it.

Guests at the lecture will be able to view rare vintage photos of the excavation and installation of this world-class specimen housed at MOAS. The museum’s giant ground sloth in now celebrating more than 40 years of continuous display.

Zacharias is a Florida native and has been with the Museum of Arts and Sciences for 25 years. He is the senior curator of education and curator of history with a specialty in Florida history, art and paleontology.

In autumn 2011, Zacharias discovered bones of a mastodon in a Daytona Beach drainage pond near the museum. He oversaw the new exhibit gallery for the mastodon and giant ground sloth, completed in October 2015.

He has been a cast member for a PBS series called “The Fossil Hunters,” a show about Florida fossil hunting. He also has appeared on the Travel Channel as a guest historian with Philippe Cousteau, Jr., discussing pirates.

Zacharias has been a guest speaker at the Smithsonian Institution on museum education issues and is a frequent presenter on a variety of Florida history topics throughout Central Florida. He was invited to present on prehistoric Florida at the 2016 Florida State University Geologic Society.

The event is free to the public, but donations to the Marine Discovery Center are always appreciated. Registration is required.

For more information about the lecture, contact the Marine Discovery Center at 386-428-4828. The Marine Discovery Center is located off the North Causeway at 520 Barracuda Blvd., New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

The lecture is open to the public at no charge  |  Registration is required