Ice Age Mastodon Skeleton Unearthed In Michigan

A team of researchers from the University of Michigan recovered last week in Michigan's Thumb region the complete ice age mastodon skeleton that was found in Michigan in the decades. It was a male mastodon, which was an extinct relative of the elephant that lived 11,000 to 13,000 years ago. The said mastodon would likely have decimated by the pre-historic hunters.

This is WAY cool! A mastodon was found in Michigan! https://t.co/k0g5WEbrT6

— MichelleFOX47 (@MichelleFOX47) October 19, 2016

The team recovered about 60 to 70 percent of the mastodon's skeletal mass. These include over 75 complete or near complete bones such as shoulder blades, long limb bones, pelvis skull, ribs and many vertebrae, according to Detroit News.

Daniel Fisher, a professor in the UM Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology said that this is a complete Michigan mastodon skeleton in many decades. He further said that the last time a mastodon this complete was found in Michigan was in the 1940s. It was referred as the Owosso mastodon, which is the mature female skeleton attached at the UM Museum of Natural History. That was about 80 percent complete.

The discovery of the new bones in Michigan's Maryville region are about 70 percent of the whole creature. Most of the bones found were attached in their original positions. The researchers from the University of Michigan recovered the majority of the remains. Earlier, they found the handful of bones in the region two years ago, according to Daily Mail.

Mastodons belong to the genus Mammut and distant relative of elephants. They lived in the herds of the North and Central America in the late Miocene or late Pliocene period. It became extinct at the end of Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. They were also forest dwelling animals and fed by grazing and browsing just like the elephants.