A hunter looking for deer on a West Texas ranch instead discovered a rare mammoth tusk, researchers say.
The tusk was sitting in the drainage area of a creek bed on the O2 Ranch in Brewster and Presidio counties near Big Bend National park, according to a statement released by Sul Ross State University in Texas.
Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi), a distant southern cousin of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), lived on the grasslands of what are now North and Central Texas up until around 11,700 years ago, according to the Texas Master Naturalists website, hosted by Texas A&M University. However, the discovery of mammoth remains in West Texas is very rare.
"Seeing that mammoth tusk just brings the ancient world to life," Will Juett, the O2 ranch manager, said in the statement. "Now, I can't help but imagine that huge animal wandering around the hills on the O2 Ranch. My next thought is always about the people that faced those huge tusks with only a stone tool in their hand!"
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Columbian mammoths coexisted with humans until the animals went extinct at the end of the last ice age. Researchers have proposed several potential causes for their extinction, including climate change, hunting by humans and disease, according to Texas Master Naturalists.
The hunter who found the tusk, who isn't named in the statement, took photos of the fossil inside the creek bed and showed them to Juett. The ranch manager then contacted Bryon Schroeder, director of the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross State University, and another archeologist. They contacted additional researchers and investigated the discovery.
Schroeder verified that it was a mammoth tusk, and the researchers spent two days excavating it from the ranch. They covered the tusk in strips of plaster-covered burlap to protect it and then built a frame to transport it to Sul Ross State University. During the excavation, the researchers didn't find any other mammoth parts.
"We realized pretty quickly there was not more to the skeleton, just an isolated tusk that had been separated from the rest of the remains," Schroeder said in the statement.
The researchers are now awaiting the results of carbon dating tests to tell them how old the mammoth tusk is, according to the statement.
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