With new fossil discoveries and Cuvier’s research, it was becoming more clear what sorts of creatures these prehistoric elephants really were. Jefferson accepted Cuvier’s conclusions that mastodons were extinct plant eaters. But not everyone was so sure….
Monster Tour
Jefferson’s friend Charles Willson Peale revealed his public display of the first nearly complete mastodon skeleton in his Philadelphia museum in 1802. For a pricey 50-cent fee, this marvel could be viewed “by lamp light, every evening” except Sunday. It was such a sensation that Peales’ second mastodon skeleton (his workers had unearthed two) was soon shipped off on tour. The museum owner’s son Rembrandt Peale exhibited the second mastodon in New York and then moved the show overseas to new audiences in London.