The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) announced that a giant tusk was recovered from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Their announcement revealed the discovery was made during an expedition in 2019, but then only a sample was taken of it, and it was finally excavated in July of this year.
The tusk belongs to the Colombian mammoth, the length of which is about a meter. Mammoths are usually found on land, but this specimen has been kept in good condition in cold water and high pressure, so it can be better studied.
Mammoths are indeed found in the ocean, but usually at a depth of a few tens of meters
said Daniel Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan.
Researchers subject the results to DNA analysis, which may be more than 100,000 years old. If proven, it will be the best and oldest mammoth in the area.
These specimens are a rare opportunity to learn about the animal and its previous environment. Mammoth remains are especially rare in South America, so we can get a lot of information about mammoths in the region from the DNA they come from.
Said Beth Shapiro, a researcher in the Paleogenomics Laboratory at the University of Santa Cruz.
