A man hunting deer discovered a massive mammoth tusk on a ranch in west Texas. The tusk was in the drainage area of a creek bed on the ranch, which is near Big Bend National park, according to a press release from Sul Ross State University.
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When the man showed a photo of the fossil to the ranch manager, the manager figured it was probably just an old stump, but he contacted the experts anyway. Experts came out to the ranch and verified the object was, indeed, a mammoth tusk—”a very rare find” in west Texas.
“Seeing that mammoth tusk just brings the ancient world to life,” the ranch manager told Live Science. “Now, I can’t help but imagine that huge animal wandering around the hills on the O2 Ranch.”
See the mammoth tusk being excavated in Texas here:
Header image from Devin Pettigrew/CBBS via Sul Ross State University