FSU PANAMA CITY TO HOST FLORIDA MASTODON EXHIBIT SEPT. 27-28

Florida State University Panama City will welcome Priscilla from Aucilla—a 21,800-year-old mastodon skeleton—to campus for a special appearance Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28.

Priscilla will be displayed in front of the Holley Academic Center, 4750 Collegiate Drive, Panama City. Admission is free and open to the public. In addition, the Aucilla Research Institute will provide a mobile museum and guest speakers to discuss what life was like in Northwest Florida for native people in Priscilla’s lifetime. 

The skeleton was recovered from the Aucilla River near the town of Lamont in 1962-63 and was initially thought to be from a female mastodon (thus the name). Once the entire skeleton was put together—weighing in at 2 tons—researchers determined it was that of a male; however, by then the name had stuck.

Paleontologist Don Serbousek (1926-2010) found the bones while diving in the river. In 1965, plaster casts were made of the bones, allowing them to be copied in a more lightweight material for a traveling educational display.

Priscilla will make his appearance in conjunction with Discovery Day by the Bay, which welcomes prospective students and their families for tours of the campus and the Seminole Landing residence hall, as well as various orientation activities. Discovery Day will be from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, in the Holley Academic Center.