Posted on 04/07/2005 9:28:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MOORPARK, Calif. - The remarkably well-preserved remnants of an estimated half-million-year-old mammoth - including both tusks - were discovered at a new housing development in Southern California.
An onsite paleontologist found the remains, which include 50 percent to 70 percent of the Ice Age creature, as crews cleared away hillsides to prepare for building, Mayor Pro Tem Clint Harper said.
Paleontologist Mark Roeder estimated the mammoth was about 12 feet tall, Harper said. Roeder believed it was not a pygmy or imperial mammoth, but he had not yet determined its exact type, Harper said.
"It's considered a very significant find, and it's a very complete fossil. It's unusual because it was found all the way down near the bedrock," Harper said. "We asked if carbon dating could be used and they said no way, it's too old."
Harper said the first bones were spotted several days ago and a special crew was called in after Roeder found more remnants, including the 6- and 7-foot-long tusks.
"They've been encased in plaster and burlap and removed from the site," Harper said.
Moorpark in Ventura County is about 30 miles west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
"The Moorpark mammoth, that's what we'll call it," Harper said.
Other Ice Age creatures have been found in recent years around Southern California, including a mastodon in Simi Valley, a mammoth in Oceanside and a pygmy mammoth on the Channel Islands.
*snort* Conversations on this forum just go to hell in a handbasket sometimes.. HAHAhahaa.....
I bet the Department of Fish and Game is responsible for this!
Yeh, like the licensed ex-tiger owner didn't have a hand in this one too...hehe.
1. Moorpark, the home of mammoths and tigers.
2. Simi, the home of policemen and women; and one Republican president named Ronald Reagan and his library.
Just to name some of the recent news icons......
Lighten up! That was merely a statement of fact and to the good, if anything- not a knock on anyone. I have many LAPD and sherrif's department friends. If you want another, Simi also boasts the most autos per capita in the US.
After all is said and done it was obviously a mammouth undertaking.
THEY SHOULD CHECK THE MAMOTH TO SEE IF IT DIED FROM DOF&G BULLETS
Well? Don't leave us hanging like that. Huge what?
*shrug* I wasn't angry. Hard to put voice inflections on a message forum. By the way, they're saying it may be a "new" mammoth here. Something previously undiscovered. Lots of fossils up in these hills.
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