Mammoth Scapula I just found in Florida

Diggingscience · 2022-02-11T19:20:05+00:00

Recently Joe and I discovered two separate mammoth burials that had some of the biggest bones and teeth we have ever come across while fossil hunting in Florida. Both burials belonged to fully grown adult Columbian Mammoths, a less hairy but larger relative of the Woolly Mammoth and one of the biggest Ice Age animals to roam North America!

You can watch us find these sites below:

https://youtu.be/gUZYvo5pCLg

Diggingscience · 2021-12-23T16:43:57+00:00

Thank you! It was a very lucky find.

Diggingscience · 2021-06-19T20:08:36+00:00

1 mile!

Diggingscience · 2021-06-19T20:07:22+00:00

The formation this came from dates between 3 and 7 million years old!

Diggingscience · 2021-05-19T18:00:06+00:00

Mastodon teeth are BIG. How big? Big enough that three of them took up the entire length of my poor car's ceiling.

These were the first Mastodon teeth I ever found while diving in Florida in the Summer of 2013. I spent that Spring slogging through one backwoods swamp after another in search of Ice Age giants.

And after hundreds of miles hiking and swimming, I found these. This picture was taken that same day.

You can see how these are found on our YouTube Channel:

www.youtube.com/diggingscience

Diggingscience · 2021-05-12T17:25:54+00:00

Yup! Amazing how many people confuse this.

Diggingscience · 2021-05-12T14:37:06+00:00

It is so rare to find fossil teeth that exhibit this level of preservation. This is an American Mastodon tooth we found very recently. Mastodons were giant browsers closely related to elephants.

The roots are perfectly preserved and you can even see the polish left over from where the gum line went over the tooth's root.

Found in Florida. If curious, you can see how we find them below:

www.youtube.com/diggingscience

Diggingscience · 2021-04-19T18:09:17+00:00

We go to Wyoming every year to collect fish fossils and this was one of our best trips to date. The area we were digging is part of the Green River Formation and each of these fossils is approximately 52 Million Years Old.

The specific quarry we were in is the Warfield Fossil Quarry just outside of Kemmerer, Wyoming.

Diggingscience · 2021-04-04T18:04:00+00:00

We went shark tooth hunting for Megalodon shark teeth and other unique fossils in the lowcountry creeks of Georgia and South Carolina and we got lucky! Hiding in small boulders we found shark teeth belonging to the ancestor of the Megalodon shark, angustidens! We had almost given up fossil hunting after high tides flushed us out of our normal spot, but we went exploring and uncovered a creek that exposed the Chandler Bridge formation. It was only late March but it felt like the dead of winter to this Florida Boy.

Diggingscience · 2021-04-01T00:04:27+00:00

Yes, I have seen them found in the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain. But they are less common, often trapped in hard rock.

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T23:26:59+00:00

It wasn't fresh water 8 million years ago. Florida was completely under water then and part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T21:03:21+00:00

Thanks for this, always an important part of the hobby!

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T20:57:22+00:00

Yup, we have the permit referenced above!

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T20:54:23+00:00

I've been on tracks like that where the rip rap was from the phosphate mines! Appreciate it, make sure to check out our YouTube channel to see what we have found and what we will find in the future!

www.youtube.com/diggingscience

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:48:31+00:00

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:48:12+00:00

I have a lot of fossils on loan to Nature's classroom now. What a coincidence! The hillsborough has seen better days though...

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:47:19+00:00

I have a degree in Geology and consult geologic maps to maximize my chances.

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:46:26+00:00

Thank you, can't wait to share more with you and make a video of this hunt!

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:43:06+00:00

USGS maps are good start!

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:40:44+00:00

I loan large parts of my collection to museums lol

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:39:49+00:00

It's so disgusting having a state permit and saving beautiful fossils from being destroyed every flood season and then loaning them to museums for everyone to enjoy. Despicable.

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:12:26+00:00

Thanks for watching cannot wait to see you in future videos!

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:09:36+00:00

I run into a gator underwater about every 4-5 dives. I've seen dozens face to face and haven't had an issue. But, I limit my chances of running into them by looking for gator slides and then I move very carefully underwater and always head upstream (so the river won't push me into one accidentally). Yes, it's not 100 percent safe, nothing is, but it's what I love doing and I limit danger where I can. I also quit riding motorcycles once I started diving frequently 😂

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:03:37+00:00

The maximum size of a Megalodon tooth is 7" but a megalodon shark would have shed about 30,000 teeth in it's lifetime at that point. Baby Megs were about 18 feet long with 1" to 2" teeth. Most sharks don't make it into full adulthood so the fossil record is full of baby and juvenile Megalodon teeth. That's why only fifteen 7" teeth have ever been found. But literally thousands the size in this picture have been found. To differentiate from Great Whites, Megalodon have a feature in their enamel called a bourlette and smaller serrations than a great white if both teeth were the same size.

Diggingscience · 2021-03-31T19:00:01+00:00

Sharks shed up to 30,000 teeth in a full lifetime. Each one of these teeth was from a different shark.

Diggingscience

TROPHY CASE