Gary Selinger said a bison was found north of Fairbanks and they called the university, Dale Guthrie excavated it and brought it in. Eirik Granqvist was the taxidermist. He described his work, a sculpture is done in clay and then the sculpture is cast. they used burlap and caster, the tanned skin is stretched over, there are only three other mammals of the same age in the world, the other mammals were found in permafrost like this bison, and it has been about thirty six thousand years since he died. Gary Selinger said thirty six thousand years ago this area was a tundra steppe grassland, large herds of bison, horse and mammoth, fortunate to find the frozen carcass, bison helping to reconstruct the environment at that time. Granqvist talked about working on the bison for six weeks, Dale Guthrie's reconstruction helping, his specialty, and reconstruction of extinct animals. Selinger commented about the reconstruction, Granqvist and Guthrie. Granqvist talked about the value of reconstructing the bison. Selinger talked about permafrost allowing the mammals to be preserved, the rare find, and worth the effort and cost to reconstruct the bison. Granqvist said the bison is the most precious piece to be shown in the museum and its uniqueness. Gary Selinger talked about the bison going beyond the display, research, potential reconstruction, bison fur, and the bison giving them a better understanding of the environment that it lived in. Basil Hedrick talks about funding making it possible to work on the bison, money from the Alaska Legislature, bringing in an expert, exhibiting a 36,000 year old bison, the two options if they didn't have funding, the curiosity effect, a Pleistocene display in the future, and research and science in the museum. Anne Tremarello talks about registration at the university, important dates, registration times, enrollment numbers, tuition and fees compared to other institutions, fall enrollment, steady increase, closed classes, increased interest in business and engineering, the growth of the computer science department, evening classes, and remote classes.
