![見出し画像](https://assets.st-note.com/production/uploads/images/149182112/rectangle_large_type_2_8f022c94c5874e07f97b122ea8b41be5.jpeg?width=1200)
Ashoro Museum of Paleontology 足寄動物化石博物館
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On the way from Ikeda station (池田駅前) to Ashoro station by Tokachi Bus on 6th June 2024, I got off at the bus-stop Ashoro Museum of Paleontology (足寄動物化石#博物館) in order to visit the museum.
I have not studied paleontology, which, however, has somehow interested my elder daughter, and I used to take her to various exhibitions, which inevitably influenced me.
Before talking about the museum, the location of Ashoro Town in Hokkaidō is depicted below:
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722519909429-ktb2LNZVe8.png?width=1200)
As the map tells, it is a large town, and as a matter of fact, it is the largest town in Japan, and the second largest municipality next to Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture (岐阜県高山市).
It is a small museum in a small town, but I found the exhibition of reconstructed skeletal specimens of mainly extinct aquatic herbivorous mammal genera neatly organized, and very informative at least to me.
Being a layman in this area, let me just show photos taken in the museum.
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486357292-VuGT4amEXM.jpg?width=1200)
Ashoroa is an extinct genus of desmostylian, aquatic, herbivorous mammal.
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486359796-qjQ1t9cMMs.jpg?width=1200)
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486358401-KWfl9yno2J.jpg?width=1200)
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486358586-uBXRuTxGNZ.jpg?width=1200)
Desmostylus is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal of the family Desmostylidae.
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486358826-LTbHS2TkfC.jpg?width=1200)
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486359070-BHBCFcJ2OJ.jpg?width=1200)
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486359337-QG4pGWz840.jpg?width=1200)
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486359817-6tlCUTUr5Y.jpg?width=1200)
Behemotops is an extinct genus of herbivorous marine mammal.
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486360073-5Nsh6KF5vB.jpg?width=1200)
Paleoparadoxia is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals.
Desmostylus and Paleoparadoxia were on the website of the Mizunami Fossil Museum (瑞浪市化石博物館) in Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture (岐阜県瑞浪市), so I knew their names. It is clear that the name Paleoparadoxia indicates that there was something controversial upon its discovery...
https://www.city.mizunami.lg.jp/kankou_bunka/1004960/kaseki_museum/index.html
The home page of Mizunami Fossil Museum shows the following photo:
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722644995604-zHNXq86avp.png)
In addition to exhibition of reconstructed fossils, the following exhibition was very enlightening:
https://x.com/SokoKhazar/status/1799422152569237709
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722486078370-B7vHGy2xgp.jpg?width=1200)
Since I was highly pleased with the exhibition, I bought the following book:
![](https://assets.st-note.com/img/1722438946181-SYhuOi8Cod.jpg?width=1200)
It's a small museum in a small town, and maintaining such a museum is deemed to be extremely challenging, especially under abominable tendency to obliterate precious materials in various local museums owing to m0r0n1c politicians, I fully respect tremendous effort of the museum curators in this country.
Last but not least, I am thankful to 美原さつき様 whose highly informative posts have enlightened me🙏
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