“It is likely the best-preserved mammoth skull, Columbian or pygmy, to be recovered from the Channel Islands”. Paleontologist Justin Wilkins said that the find is vital because it is an evidence that the mammoth to be present on the Channel Islands nearly at the same time as humans.
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The US Geological Survey dated charcoal remnants beside the skull to 13,000 years ago, which puts the mammoth at approximately the same time and in the same place as Arlington man, considered to be the oldest human remains in North America.
“This mammoth find is extremely rare and of high scientific importance”, noted Mammoth Site paleontologist Justin Wilkins in a statement. Larramendy found the mammoth remains two years ago at the north end of Santa Rosa Island. The researchers noted that the skull is too small to be a Colombian mammoth and too large to be pygmy mammoth, suggesting that the skull may belong to a transitional species between the two.
The National Park Service and Bugbee’s Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, made the discovery.
The mammoth fossil was first discovered in September 2014.
Menard said Columbian mammoths may have migrated to the islands during the past two ice ages when sea levels were much lower and over the course of thousands of years evolved into a much smaller version known as a pygmy mammoth.
The mammoth specimen was first discovered in September 2014 when a biologist conducting a stream study noticed an ivory tusk protruding from sediment in a canyon wall.
Scientists nicknamed the mammoth Larry to honor their late distinguished colleague, Larry Agenbroad, a world leader in paleontology. The mammoth’s tusks are also unusual. Or it could be a young Columbian mammoth. The land was also closer to the coast of the mainland.
The thinking is that Columbian mammoths swam out to the islands in search of food and, over time, adapted to the environment by downsizing to the pygmy form. The right one protrudes 4.6 feet (1.4 meters), coiling in a way that’s representative of an older animal. But the left tusk is shorter and sloped like that of a juvenile mammal.
Meanwhile, the team will cover the specimen with burlap and plaster to protect it.
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The skull of the mammoth, alongside its teeth and other part, will be transported to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, where it would be cleaned, preserved, studied and curated for future public display.
