The theme of this display explains how the land of Yamagata, which was sleeping under the sea, rose up to form the origins of Yamagata.  
　Near the entrance to the gallery you will see a model skeleton of the Yamagata sea cow Yamagata Dai-Kaigyu, and models showing places where fossils were found.　 

　The life and habitats of Yamagata's wild birds  are described using stuffed specimens and small dioramas which are displayed sectioned into categories like grasslands and mountains. In addition, to show migratory birds' movement between their breeding and wintering grounds, birds seen in one locale are designated as sedentary birds, summer birds, winter birds, traveling birds, wandering birds, stray birds, etc. About 350 species of wild birds are known in this prefecture.

　Yamagata Prefecture, located along the northern Japan Sea side, has zones with heavy snowfall. However, besides the plants and animals which are adapted to low temperatures and the snowy winters of those areas, we also find many types of warm region plants and animals along the Shonai coast and on Tobishima island where the weather is influenced by  the warm Tsushima Current moving northward along the Japan Sea. The leatherback sea turtle Osagame  which lives in warm southern seas is displayed, and so is a diorama of creatures which hibernate in the snow.