A bachelor party at the Elephant Butte Lake State Park in New Mexico led to the discovery of a fossil that may an ancient elephant skull.
The group of friends stumbled on the ancient fossils around 150 miles south of Albuquerque in New Mexico.
"As we are cruising by we see a large tusk or what seems to be a large tusk coming out of the ground about a good three to four inches out," Antonio Gradillas, one of the members of the group, narrates to KRQE News 13.
The ancient elephant fossil discovery was confirmed by the Elephant Butte Lake State Park’s administration.
“State Parks and other agencies are investigating the find of what appears to be a tusk and skull of a prehistoric elephant,” State Parks Director Tommy Mutz says in a statement [doc]. “Until paleontologists can carefully excavate and analyze this find, we will not have conclusive information and we’re asking the public to help us protect it.”
Gradillas says they thought the giant skull was a Woolly mammoth, another type of elephant.
They decided to send the photos to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
“He advised us that it may not be a Woolly Mammoth it’s the wrong era and weren’t conducive to this area. He says it’s more the ice age era 40-60 million years old and chances are good it’s a mastodon,” Gradillas states.
The museum’s paleontologists assess the skull looks like that of a Stegomastodon, a prehistoric elephant that was about 9-foot tall and 13,000 pound. They say it wandered in New Mexico millions of years ago.
Further research indicates the Stegomastodon was the last surviving member of the primitive tuskers lineage called gomphotheres that first came 15 million years ago to North America. These animals disappeared around 1.3 million years ago and were replaced by new elephant settlers called mammoths.
Gary Morgan, who is a curator of paleontology at the said museum, says the skull seems to be “virtually 100 percent complete” and a significant scientific discovery that could be placed on public display. He discloses not seeing anything of such kind in his 30-year career.
The paleontologists are collaborating with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the State Parks to thoroughly make an investigation, excavate the fossil the soonest possible time and ensure that the discovery site is guarded so as not to compromise its integrity and safety.
Research says excavation of the fossil would require a front-end loader. The excavation also may take up to six hours long. The elephant skull may be up to 1,000 pound considering that it will be full of sand.
The State Parks administration also commends the initiative of the campers to report the fossil discovery at once to authorities.
“It’s great that campers properly reported the find to authorities,” says Dr. Robert Stokes, archaeologist at State Parks. “State and federal law prohibit the removal of archeological, paleontological and botanical specimens from Elephant Butte Lake State Park.”
The State Parks is going to work with other agencies to disseminate proper information to the public with regard to the type and age of fossil skull, as soon as a complete investigation is conducted.
