There is a fruit growing wild in Ohio that tastes like banana custard and was built to be eaten by an animal that has been extinct for 13,000 years. It’s called the paw paw. The animal was the mastodon.

Dr. Hal Lescinsky will take you back to Pleistocene Ohio, a place that looked startlingly like the African savanna, complete with lions, elephants, and ground sloths the size of a car. Ohio shared almost all of its big animals with South Africa, right up until human hunters arrived and the giants vanished. What’s left are the clues: skulls, fossils, and native plants still shaped by animals no one alive has ever seen.

Dr. Halard Lescinsky is a Professor of Biology and Earth Science at Otterbein University. As a paleobiologist, he uses fossil coral reefs to understand recent reef ecology and formation. He currently directs the Aquarium Program at Otterbein.

Dr. Lescinsky raises paw paws himself. If the season cooperates, he’ll bring some for you to taste.

Food and drink will be available from the kitchen at Shadowbox Live! Use the code getnerdy to lower the $8 suggested donation to $4.

Get tickets at: https://boxoffice.upfrontps.org/event/eat-like-a-mastodon-ohio-in-the-pleistocene/