Was the elephant’s size had been big since a long time ago? In fact it wasn’t. The elephant’s ancestor lived million of years ago that were as big as pig. The history of these elephant’s ancestor could be known when visiting Museum Gajah – Elephant’s Museum – in Gianyar Bali.

Museum Gajah is located at Tegalalang village, Gianyar Bali for about 40 kilometer to the North East of Denpasar city. Entering this Museum Gajah, children are charged Rp 35 thousand for the ticket and Rp 95 thousand for adult.

In this museum the visitor could see the long history of elephant’s life, it starting from 50 million years ago until recent time where the elephant still survive.

The visitor could see Mammoth’s tusk which is aged twenty thousand years old found in Alaska, United State of America and from Siberia, Russia. Not merely the tusk from ancient elephant like Mammoth, the visitor also could see the fossil of Mammoth’s tooth and the remaining of its hair.

Besides seeing the fossil of ancient elephant Mammoth lived twenty thousand years ago, the visitors also could see the ancestor of ‘Palaemastodon’ ancestor lived five million years ago.
“Palaeomastodon fossil exhibits in this museum was the fossil found in East Java territory years ago,” explained Dedy Ramlan, the manager of Gajah Museum.

In addition to this ancient elephant fossil, this museum also the visitore could see the history of elephant development from fifty million years ago until today.

“In this place also, people could see the pictures of elephant’s ancestor which was as big as pig called as ‘Moeritherium’ lived fifty million years ago, elephant’s ancestor that was as big as cow called ‘Palaeomastodon’ lived five million years ago, ‘Stegodon’, four meters Mammoth until the recent elephant with 1.5 until 2 meter in height,” added Dedy.

Varied of handicrafts from elephant bones and tusks from 17th and 18th century also can be seen in this museum. Those exhibited handicrafts came from several tribe and culture in Asia up to African territory.

News by Berita Bali