| Our Next MEETING 583rd Meeting Thursday, February 12, 2026 6:30 PM at the Canadian Museum of Nature Scott Rufolo LIFE ONTO LAND: THE DEVONIAN Life onto Land: The Devonian is a recently opened exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) that focuses on the seminal evolutionary transitions that occurred during the Devonian Period, 359 to 420 million years ago. During this span of time, plants and animals colonized the land to a much greater extent, evolving more complex anatomies that enabled them to leave aquatic habitats behind. This move onto land laid the foundations for all modern terrestrial ecosystems. The fossil record of Canada, particularly that of the Arctic, has yielded many important specimens that document this crucial period in Earth’s history. Life onto Land: The Devonian highlights the contributions of Canadian palaeontology to understanding these early evolutionary developments and includes display—for the first time in Canada—of the holotype specimen of Tiktaalik roseae, an exceptionally important fossil find from Ellesmere Island that informs us about the evolution of limbs from fins. After introducing us to the exhibit, the CMN’s Dr. Scott Rufolo will guide us on a tour of it. Scott Rufolo was born in Arizona but grew up in New Jersey. After earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and geological sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, he went on to graduate studies in palaeontology at Brigham Young University, museology and heritage management at the University of Cambridge, and zooarchaeology and Near Eastern archaeology at The Johns Hopkins University, which awarded him a PhD in 2011. Scott joined the Canadian Museum of Nature in 2013 and became the curator of its Palaeobiology Section in 2021. In addition to caring for the national fossil collection, Scott manages both palaeontological and archaeological collections on behalf of the Government of Nunavut. He is currently involved in research on Arctic archaeology (Foxe Basin) and palaeontology (Cameron Island, Ellesmere Island). This meeting will be held at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Metcalfe and McLeod Streets, Ottawa. We will assemble in the centre of the atrium at the main entrance, just beyond the moose mosaic on the floor, at 1830 hr (6.30 pm). The meeting will end at 2000 hr (8 pm), when the museum closes. Admission to the museum is free but evening parking in the museum lot is charged at a flat rate of $7.00. On-street parking should be available nearby. Guests are welcome. Next meetings: Mar 10 Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Apr 15 Joint session with the Canadian Nordic Society on Arctic sovereignty and security Apr 23 Annual Dinner with Prof. Whitney Lackenbauer as guest-of-honour Thomas Frisch Secretary 613 725 2221; tfrisch@sympatico.ca |
|
||
 |
|
October
14 Dr. Trevor Bell
HOME | ABOUT THE CIRCLE | COMING UP NEXT | RECENT EVENTS | MEMBERSHIP | THE LIBRARY | CONTACT