Young Boy Finds 12,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth Scientists Verify!

During a family hike at Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Rochester Hills of Michigan, a six-year-old boy by the name of Julian Gagnon stumbled upon a mastodon tooth, which he initially hoped was a “dragon’s tooth”. To the family’s surprise, it looked like it was more than just a rock and “felt like a real tooth”, so after sending it to the University of Michigan’s Museum of Palaeontology, scientists verified its authenticity and confirmed according to their findings that it was a 12,000-year-old mastodon tooth.

The museum’s research collection manager Adam Rountrey was amazed at the discovery and said, “These things are so valuable in the long term for research about how the animals live.” He further commented to say that Julian Gagnon is probably the first person to touch this fossil in 12,000 years.

It was confirmed by the University of Michigan’s Museum of Palaeontology that the tooth fossil was the upper right molar of an extinct juvenile mastodon, which is a distantly evolved relative of modern-day elephants.

Mastodons are described to be “big, shaggy elephants”, similar to mammoths but not the same. Scientists of the museum said, “Despite the superficial resemblance, mastodons were distinct from mammoths. Mastodon were shorter and stockier than mammoths with shorter, straighter tusks. Mastodons were wood browsers and their molars have pointed cones specially adapted for eating woody browse. Mammoths were grazers, their molars have flat surfaces for eating grass.”

The mastodon was named Michigan’s state fossil in April 2002 because the creature had once lived all over Michigan and North America before it disappeared about 10,000 years ago; however, its bones are still being studied by palaeontologists or fossil scientists today.

Julian Gagnon donated the tooth to the University of Michigan’s Museum of Palaeontology. As a reward for the donation, the six-year-old Julian Gagnon, whose aim is to become a palaeontologist himself, will take part in a behind the scenes tour at the museum.

Following exciting discoveries like these, it is no wonder that Julian Gagnon dreams of studying to become a palaeontologist. Watch the YouTube clip down below to see how he discovered the fossil!