Students work at unearthing the mammoth bones

CHELSEA, Mich. — Has something ancient been unearthed near Chelsea, Mich.,? Paleontologists from the University of Michigan spent the day digging up the bones of an adult woolly mammoth.

Daniel Fisher, a professor at U-M and director of the Museum of Paleontology, tells WWJ that he knew exactly what he had when he saw the bones.

“I saw a part of a shoulder blade and there is a certain curve on a certain part of it that goes one way if it’s a mastodon and another way if it’s a mammoth,” said Fisher, “and I recognized that and said ‘humm, I think we have a mammoth here.’ ”

Fisher says they were able to retrieve several bones from the site:

“We extracted this very nice skull and tusks and we found the jaw of the animal — various ribs and vertebra.”

Extinct for a minimum of 10,000 years, the woolly mammoth lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and was one of the last in a line of mammoth species. Boasting enormous tusks and looking a bit like a furry version of the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth did co-exist alongside humans for a time, scientists say.

Source:  CBS Detroit