Visitors to the Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park near Royal can share the same joy and adventure as the paleontologists who discover fossils each day in the newly opened Hubbard Rhino Barn.

The new building covers 17,500 square-feet -- eight times larger than the one it replaces -- and allows for the discovery and protection of many more fossils and enhances the experiences for visitors to the unique park.

Visitors experience a firsthand look at the extinct animals preserved exactly as they died, and all new fossil excavations are carried out in their full view.

The park, a joint project of the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, contains skeletons of extinct rhinos, camels, horses and hundreds of other animals lying in the volcanic ash that killed them 12 million years ago.

Plans for construction of the new Hubbard Rhino Barn began in 2007 when the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation of Omaha announced a $1.2 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation for construction of the facility to greatly expand the active fossil site.

"We are deeply grateful to the Hubbard family and to all the generous donors who have made this new facility a dream come true for the state."Mark Harris, associate director of the NU State Museum, said, "We're eager to witness the unveiling of another piece of Nebraska's rich fossil history as discoveries come to life in our new world-class facility. We hope that the fascinating creatures soon to be found at Ashfall will spark the curiosity of many budding young scientists."

The Hubbard Family Foundation also provided funding for a new Discovery Pavilion for the park. This facility is used to process and research the many smaller fossils found and was used to collect the fossils found during construction of the Hubbard Rhino Barn.