Mastodons once moved freely in Michigan and next week in Midland one will be moving again.
Manny is a replica skeleton of a juvenile mastodon. It’s greeted visitors in the lobby of the Midland Center for the Arts museum for more than 20 years.
Julie Johnson is the museum director. She said Manny will be leaving the facility next week for restoration work.
“We came up with a plan working with an outside vendor to repair him. We also contacted some paleontologists to make sure that what we were planning on doing was accurate”.
Johnson said when the work is done, Manny will be relocated to the Midland County History Center on Main Street.
“Estimated cost for refurbishment and the new platform and the install is approximately 15 thousand dollars and then additional costs to reinstall him at a later date”.
Johnson said the the skeleton's move to the history center may be only temporary. They hope to have a final decision on a permanent location before summer.
She said they want to make sure he’s somewhere he’ll attract guests, and compliment area school’s curriculum.