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A Gallic farmer received the surprise of a lifetime when he falter upon the enormous skull of a long - out Pyrenean mastodon , but he continue it to himself for geezerhood , theAFP reportedon Thursday ( July 12 ) .
The modest - town farmer , who live in L’Isle - nut - Dodon , France , do it the skull was remarkable and rarified , but did n’t need people to know it was on his land . He valued his privacy and feared that his farm would be overrun by " host of amateur paleontologist , " the AFP reported .
A farmer found a rare mastodon skull on his property.
Fortunately for scientists , the loath Fannie Merritt Farmer changed his mind . Two years after find the fogy , he get through the Natural History Museum of Toulouse , in France , about his extraordinary discovery . " It was only when we went there , in 2017 , that we realized the significance of the discovery , " the museum ’s direction told AFP . [ Mastodon bone : Images of an Early Hunt ]
Experts identified the skull asGomphotherium pyrenaicum , a largemastodonthat drift the Pyrenees mountain realm between about 11 million and 13 million twelvemonth ago , reportedScienceAlert . This large herbivore had a body shape similar tomodern elephantsbut had four tusk or else of two : two make out from the bottom jaw and two from the top .
Until now , the only other grounds of this retentive - extinct species was a few fossil teeth find in the same region in 1857 . The farmer ’s breakthrough of this skull is a major scientific contribution , and museum paleontologist were happy he decided to come forward , ScienceAlert reported .
Paleontologist Pascal Tassy sitting next to the skull of a long-extinct mastodon on the site where the skull was found by a farmer.
" We ’re putting a face on a species which had become almost mythical , " the museum ’s curator Pierre Dalous , separate AFP .
Museum fossilist removed the fossil from the farmer ’s landed estate and convey it to their lab , where they ’re cautiously removing the sediment incase the skull . So far , no othermastodon boneshave been observe on the sodbuster ’s holding . And , there are no write up on whether or not the husbandman ’s attribute has been run over by fogy Hunter just yet .
Original clause onLive scientific discipline .
