The Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit in the Earl Bane Gallery. Photo courtesy Rolling Hills Zoo
By SALINA POST
Sharks have arrived at the Rolling Hills Zoo! And while work continues on the new Bamboo Bay exhibit, you can visit a related exhibit in the Wildlife Museum's Earl Bane Gallery.
Bamboo Bay: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Deep will take visitors on a deep dive into prehistoric Kansas, 73 million years ago, when it was once covered by an ancient inland sea. The waters of the Western Interior Seaway that covered what is now Kansas, as well as much of the United States, "were warm, shallow, and inhabited by a plethora of marine animals, including bony fish like the monstrous Xiphactinus, sharks, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pteranodon, mollusks (including ammonites), protophyraenas, and winged pterosaurs, which patrolled the skies overhead," the zoo explained in a news release issued late this afternoon.
"Fossils from these long extinct species are now on display courtesy of Ramo and Pam Decker and their three children, Kerstin, Kelsey, and Ray. Over the last 20 years, this family of avid paleontologists has been collecting fossils throughout Kansas, focusing much of their efforts on a specific layer of rock in north-central Kansas known as Codell Stone," the zoo noted.
Among the fossils found by the Deckers are 22 shark species, 13 fish, and three reptiles, including the plesiosaur and mosasaur.
"One of the shark species discovered was previously unknown, and the first of its kind to ever be found! This newly unearthed species of extinct shark would later be named Squalicorax deckeri in honor of the Deckers," the zoo reported.
Additionally, as the zoo continues to renovate the former Reptile Building into its new Bamboo Bay, the zoo's new cat chain sharks can be seen in the Earl Bane Gallery’s saltwater aquarium along with a skate embryo (a developing baby cat shark), according to information from the zoo. The developing shark is still in a tough leathery pouch known as a mermaid’s purse, which is protecting the embryo.