A six-year-old boy found a massive fossilized molar during a hike, later identified as belonging to a prehistoric mastodon.
Boy finds heavy fossil tooth
Julian Gagnon, a six-year-old from Rochester Hills, Michigan, discovered a heavy brown fossilized molar while hiking in a nature reserve in September 2021. He found it on a trail known as Dinosaur Hill, where he thought it might be a tooth from a dinosaur or a dragon.Tooth's unusual weight prompts curiosity
The fossil was unexpectedly heavy for its size, which caught Julian’s attention. After returning home, his family conducted an online search to learn more about the object, eventually leading them to the University of Michigan's Paleontology Museum.Museum confirms the fossil's origin
Experts at the University of Michigan's Paleontology Museum confirmed the fossil as a molar from a young mastodon, an animal that had been extinct for more than 10,000 years. Adam Rountrey, who manages the museum's vertebrate collections, identified it as the upper right molar of a young mastodon.Mastodon molar's size and significance
The molar was about the size of an adult’s fist, which ruled out most other animals that could be found in the region at that time. Mastodons, which are distant relatives of elephants, could grow up to three meters tall and weigh nearly five tonnes. They used their long tusks to strip tree bark and break branches.
