Around 2008 your museum was going to display the mammoth skeleton found in Moorpark.  Is it there now, if not where did it end up?

Tnx,

Nicholas, Moorpark, CA - November 15, 2025

Curator Response

Hi Nicholas,

Thanks for asking about the Moorpark Mammoth. A lower hind leg and foot as well as a molar from this specimen are on display here at the Museum. We used to have a few other parts of this particular mammoth on exhibit, but most of it has always been in our collections behind the scenes.

The various parts of the specimen arrived here in temporary plaster jackets. We’ve been making the bones custom fiberglass-reinforced cradles to protect them from cracking under their own weight. Creating a fully articulated skeleton for display is something we hope to do in the long run, but it will take time, money, and exhibit space. The best modern practice would be to have each bone 3D scanned and printed so we can display a perfect replica while keeping the original fossils accessible to researchers who visit our collections. You can read more about that in this article in the Moorpark Acorn and more about our broader work in paleontology here.

I hope you’ll be able to check out both what we have on display now and the more complete display we plan for the future.

Sincerely,

Dibblee Curator of Earth Science Jonathan Hoffman, Ph.D.