Highway Paleontologist will present fossil program Feb. 24

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State Museum Highway Paleontologist Shane Tucker will present "Nebraska's Highway Paleontology Program: Road to Destruction or Path to Preservation?" at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 24 in Morrill Hall. Tucker will highlight the spectacular discoveries unearthed through the program over the past 50 years.

From a 40-foot-long sea lizard that swam in the ocean covering Nebraska during the Age of Dinosaurs to a 23- million-year-old sling-shot horned deer that lived in the state's Panhandle, the program has salvaged more than 200,000 irreplaceable scientific treasures that would have otherwise been paved over. The Highway Paleontology Program was established in 1960 and was the first of its kind in the United States.

Visitors will have the opportunity to watch Tucker perform fossil preparation on a 6-million-year-old giant land tortoise discovered near Kimball in 2009 from 5:30-6:15 p.m. Tucker's presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Elephant Hall gallery. Seating is limited.

Both events are free and open to the public.

More details at: http://go.unl.edu/6cq