Construction Workers In Michigan Dug Up A Mastodon As They Were Working On A Road
Can you imagine doing some construction work on a road and coming across the skeleton of an extinct animal?
Well, this happened recently in West Michigan when a construction crew made a fascinating discovery that they’ll be sure never to forget!
According to an article from M Live, on August 11th, a construction crew for the Kent County Drain Commission was working along 22 Mile Road, which is located in Kent County, Michigan. While they were working as usual, an excavator operator noticed something in the ground.
“It was a humongous bone,” Kent County Drain Commissioner Ken Yonker told M Live.
The crew had originally thought they discovered dinosaur bones, but researchers from the University of Michigan determined that the bones were from a mastodon.
Merriam-Webster defines a mastodon “any of various extinct mammals of the elephant family existing from the Miocene through the Pleistocene.”
Although they may look similar, the U.S. National Parks Service writes that a mastodon was distinct from a mammoth. Mastodons were “shorter and stockier than mammoths with shorter, straighter tusks.”
According to a Facebook post made by the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Dr. Daniel Fisher and Dr. Scott Beld from the University of Michigan will be working with Dr. Cory Redman, the Museum’s science curator, and more museum staff to very carefully clean and dry out the bones.
Grand Rapids Public Museum; pictured above is part of the mastodon
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Researchers are estimate that the mastodon was between 12 and 20 years old when it died. According to an interview with Dr. Redman for USA Today, the skeleton was approximately 40-60% complete, making the discovery “really unique.”
“You go out there to put a pipe in the ground, and you find this. To find a mastodon, that just blew us away,” Ken Yonker told M Live.
In the meantime, the team from the University of Michigan and the Grand Rapids Public Museum crew are continuing their archeological dig and bone recovery process. Needless to say, the original construction project on 22 Mile Road has been postponed until they’re done.
Michigan residents and visitors will be able to see these remarkable bones on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum as they are being donated. It’s sure to be an incredible experience!
To read more about this story, visit the link here.
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