Top list of moments that defined 2025 at the YBIC
It’s been a busy year here at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.
The Centre’s new roof was finally completed in the spring, allowing visitors new and old to enjoy the entire building! This helped facilitate our participation in the Canada Strong Pass (federal initiative from June 20 to September 2 for discounted admission to all visitors 24 and under).
YBIC staff delivered numerous guided tours throughout the year, making the Ice Age come alive, and participated in the annual Dawson City International Gold Show, dazzling participants with impromptu tephra demonstrations. We also celebrated some milestones in big ways with the Yukon community by hosting a featured screening of the new film, Mammoth Hunters (by Sagafish Media), having visitors bring in their heirlooms, artifacts, and mystery fossils for identification on International Archaeology Day, turning the back hall into the Haunted Halls of BOO-ringia the weekend before Halloween, and decorating the entire centre for the Great Stocking Experiment.
Our Beringia Centre Science Talks continued this year with Dr. Emil Karpinski sharing his study of mastodon expansion across continents, Dr. Lauren Norman discussing her updates on the preserved DNA at Bluefish Caves from this year’s summer season, J. Camilo Chacon-Duque’s take on finding mammoth DNA across the last million years, Dr. Scott Cocker telling us what arctic ground squirrels tell us about Ice Age ecosystems, Heather Clarke presenting past and present climate change along the Dempster Highway, and Dr. Madeline Mackie sharing her take on mammoth hunting in the North American Ice Age.
Finally, what would our year be without our fantastic colleagues from Yukon Archaeology and Palaeontology? They popped in to share their summer fieldwork updates from Bluefish Caves, Qikiqtaruk, and the North Slope, as well as a beautifully preserved 30,000ya horse skull from Hester Creek, along with many other amazing fossils recovered from the permafrost. And, of course, the highlight of it all was the sampling of our black footed ferret here at the centre with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in members and research friends from the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Sweden.
Can't wait to see what 2026 has in store!
- Susan, A/Manager, Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre
