MIAMI MUSEUM

               Situated in the Village of Miami, on the corner of Cole St. and Kerby Ave.

Open Wednesday – Sunday

10AM – 4PM

We would love to see you stop by!

Miami Museum

Grand Re-opening

1PM on Saturday, June 20

Free Admission and Refreshments

Please plan on attending

Now Open:

The Miami Museum is pleased to announce that it is now officially open for all visitors.

Summer Staff (Ms. Hana Nedohin-Macek) are on-site and prepared to offer informed tours and answer questions about the Miami Museum and its' fine collection and exhibit.

There is a self-guided tours brochure, as well.

Our Museum and new “admission by donation” policy.

Please see our pamphlet profile on the RM Thompson website link @ infoRM Thompson.

The Miami Museum is a non-profit, charitable organization and provides tax-deductible receipts for donations.

In 2026 we will be spending about $20, 000, primarily for staff and a major painting project in the Church portion of the Museum.

We have been very well supported over the years with Grants from the RM Thompson and Miami Area Foundation, as well as major funds for Summer students from the Federal government and operating costs from the Province of Manitoba.

We will be starting an “admission by donation” program this year and will be most appreciative of community and visitor support .

Museum developments and expanded exhibits

Here are some of our mains accomplishments during the past 10 years ( with investments of about $30,000):

– New roof for both the Church and School Historic Buildings, that are now under 1 roof.

– New exhibit of Sid, the 35+ foot mosasaur

– New exhibit ( 2025) of full size 3D replica of Sid skull ( about 1.5 meters/5 feet long

• New cabinets full of both regular items and on-loan fossil replicas and original bone/teeth, etc.
• New Indigenous artifacts , including rare stone tools

– New initiative to create a computer station using electronic Musetoba database to create a digital record ( including photos) of all items in the collection ( over 2000 items)

Many younger people, especially students, the desire to see and learn more about the special Museum Exhibits of fossil marine animals here ( such as mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, fish, sharks, turtles, birds, etc.) so we are using this opportunity to display additional items:

• new plesiosaur and dinosaur ( T.Rex and Spinosaurus) models
•  a few actual dinosaur bones that show the close evolution relationship of fossil               birds ( Hesperornis, found here)  to dinosaurs.

Please plan on attending this event or the Museum or making a donation this year.

Thank you.

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  MIAMI MUSEUM

Situated in the Village of Miami, on the corner of Cole St. and Kerby Ave.

For More Information Please Contact:

Joe Brown:                  (204) 435-2888

Bob & Nedra Burnett: (204) 435-2191

Open Wednesday – Sunday

10AM – 4PM

We would love to see you stop by!

MIAMI MUSEUM: Temporary plesiosaur and mosasaur fossils and fossil bird/dinosaur exhibit ( Summer, 2026)

Below is a summary description of a new temporary exhibit :

• A scale model mount of a long-necked plesiosaur from the West Coast of Canada , about 90 million years ago.
• A display of fossil vertebrae of mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and a large Spinosaurus dinosaur ( with ankle bone, too)
• Original field jackets ( bones in original position, as found) of  very large Plesiosaur fossil neck vertebrae ( backbones) of  a recently discovered very late Cretaceous age ( 65 million years ago) Morocco Plesiosaur , Zarafasaura oceanis ( giraffa of the ocean).
• Various models of T.Rex and other dinosaurs , which can be compared to mosasaur and plesiosaur skeletons. Backbones and foot bones are included.

There is a life -sized panel ( 5 feet high) of the skeleton of the flightless diving bird , Hesperornis, which has been found here more than anywhere else in North America.

 Plesiosaurs became extinct at the same time as the mosasaurs, dinosaurs and flying reptiles (ptyerosaurs).

Only avian dinosaurs ( i.e. Birds) survived the late Cretaceous extinction ( 66 mya), believed to have been primarily caused by a massive meteorite impact, in what is now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

Also included on display are:

Panels and posters that provide detailed information related to the discovery, collection , identification, evolution and diversity of marine animals dinosaurs and birds.

Zarafasaura is the only Morocco plesiosaur from this period, while there were then 71 species of sharks and rays and 10 species of mosasaurs.

Comparison of Morocco and Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre ( CFDC) fossils

In general, Morocco marine fossil specimens are very similar and, in some cases, identical to those at the CFDC. This makes sense, as both sites in North America and Africa were previously joined by an ancient seaway, called the Tethys Sea.

( See Posters for a good overview and illustration of the skeletons and live appearance of the major marine fossils , including mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, turtles, sharks, fish, etc.)  
 Morocco fossils include plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, sharks, fish, etc.
Morocco also has many fossil crocodiles and turtles, that are very rare at CFDC or in Manitoba.
Morocco lacks bird fossils, which CFDC has in significant numbers. 
 
At the CFDC, as in Morocco, there are far more mosasaurs found than plesiosaurs . 
Within the CFDC fossil collection there are just over 200 mosasaur specimens and about 80 plesiosaurs , of which only 6 are identified as elasmosaurs . Only one of these elasmosaur specimens has more than simply a few vertebrae . 

 Comparison of Morocco and CFDC fossil finds and mining

Both the Morocco fossil sites and those used by CFDC are associated with current or past mining activities.
 In Morocco, it is one of the world's largest phosphate mines/deposits that yields the most fossils, while at CFDC it is former bentonite ( volcanic ash beds) mine sites that have been and are the most productive.

See Posters for a map of the pre-historic Western Interior Seaway, of 70 million years ago, and a CFDC booklet that explains of the commonly found marine reptiles and other marine creatures then present). Identification of associated Fossil Species in the field jackets
 The following species have been identified in the jackets, besides the elasmosaur vertebrae:

 A) Fish:
- Enchodus, vertebrae and teeth.
The same fish, commonly called a Fang-toothed Herring, was about 2-4 feet long, and is found in the CFDC collection.
 - Stratodus Apicalus ,a very rare , eel-like fish.

B) Shark:
- Squalicorax Prestodontus, teeth, including one embedded in one of the plesiosaur vertebrae.
This shark grew to 12 feet long.
  - There are 71 species of sharks from the deposits.

C) Sea Snake:
- Paleophis, vertebrae
 This sea snake is also a rare find, as snake bones are seldom fossilized and generally very small.

 D) Mosasaur:
- What appears to be a small mosasaur vertebrae is in one of the jackets. There are 10 mosasaur species in the Morocco deposits.

The Miami Museum is now open for the summer season.

Hours of operation are 10 AM-4 PM, Wednesday to Sunday.

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