Mastodon

2022 - 8 - 13

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Detroit Free Press"

Mastodon bones discovered by road construction workers in Kent ... (Detroit Free Press)

While installing a culvert near Kent City, road constructions workers were excited to find huge bones in the ground, which examiners concluded belonged to a ...

The operator requested that additional personnel investigate what was under the dirt, and experts later concluded that the bones belonged to a mastodon. Around 1:45 p.m on Aug. 11, an excavator operator spotted a red object in the ground when the crew was installing a large culvert along 22 Mile Road north of Kent City, according to a story by MLive. A team of construction workers were shocked after finding huge bones underground Thursday while working on roads in Kent County. The discovered fossils will be brought to the Grand Rapids Public Museum in the near future.

Community pitches in with excavation when mastodon bones found ... (mlive.com)

The bones were discovered Thursday, Aug. 11 in northern Kent County, north of Kent City, during a road project.

The bones will be cleaned and then dried over a year to 18 months, then likely put on exhibit. The University of Michigan will have jurisdiction over the bones for study purposes, but they will be housed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. We got a lot of foot bones,” he said. “We got a lot of vertebrae, a lot of ribs. The discovery started a flurry of calls that brought University of Michigan research specialist Scott Beld to the site along with Grand Rapids Public Museum Science Curator Cory Redman and other museum staff. Pugno is a fifth-grade science teacher in Newaygo and planned to tell her students about the dig.

Mastodon found in West Michigan during construction project dig (FOX 2 Detroit)

KENT COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mastodon was found this week at a construction dig site in Michigan. During construction in the Geers Intercounty drain ...

Mastodon found in Kent County construction dig (photo: Grand Rapids Public Museum) KENT COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mastodon was found this week at a construction dig site in Michigan. Mastodon found in West Michigan during construction project dig

Mastodon bones unearthed during construction project in West ... (Audacy)

Multiple bones were unearthed from the area. University of Michigan researchers determined they belonged to a mastodon, most likely a male who passed away ...

Mastodon bones unearthed in Kent City (WXYZ)

Yonker tells FOX 17 contractors initially believed they had encountered a red pipe until further excavation revealed two femurs and a leg bone. On Friday, crews ...

The University of Michigan is currently assisting with the discovery, as is the Grand Rapids Public Museum. We’re told the bones were found on private property and the owners have pledged to donate them to the museum. On Friday, crews discovered a large pelvic bone (intact!) along with a mandible, shoulder blade and some pieces of vertebrae. A set of mastodon bones were unearthed near an intersection along 22 Mile Road, according to Ken Yonker with the Kent County Drain Commission.

Mastodon bones discovered by Michigan road crews (WFTV Orlando)

KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Road crews in Kent County discovered prehistoric bones while digging along a western Michigan road earlier this week.

If that’s the case, we have two animals,” he added. Researchers from the University of Michigan later confirmed to WOOD that crews had discovered the remains of a mastodon, a prehistoric, hairy elephant common in the Michigan area roughly 12,000 years ago. According to MLive.com, the backhoe operator asked other workers to take a closer look at the find, and the crews determined that they had uncovered two large leg bones “that clearly were not from farm animals.”

Mastodon bones discovered by Michigan road crews (ActionNewsJax.com)