A significant prehistoric discovery has been made in New Mexico by an unlikely team: a group of friends on a stag night.
The men unearthed the three-million-year-old fossilised skull of a stegomastodon, an ancestor of the modern-day elephant.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Daily Telegraph quotes Antonia Gradillas, 33, one of the group. "As we were walking we saw a bone sticking out about one or two inches from the ground," he said. "This is the coolest thing ever. Some people with PhDs in this field might not even have this kind of opportunity. We were so lucky."
The friends thought they might have found the skull of a woolly mammoth and sent photographs to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. In fact, they'd found something much older – woolly mammoths were still alive 6,000 years ago, but the fossil skull is three million years old.
Experts say the fossil is the most complete example of the prehistoric elephant ancestor ever found. It has been taken to the museum and will eventually go on display.
Palaeontologist Gary Morgan estimated that the mastadon uncovered by the stag party probably stood about 9ft tall, weighed more than six tons and was about 50 years old when it died.
"This is far and away the best one we've ever found," he said. "It was living, drinking, feeding alongside the ancient Rio Grande three million years ago."
-
5 bullseye cartoons about the reasons for mass shootingsCartoons Artists take on gun worship, a price paid, and more
-
Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US FedTalking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
-
'Three Pads' Rayner: a housing hypocrite?Talking Point As real estate moguls go, the Deputy PM is 'hardly Donald Trump'
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
