Ancient mastodon tooth unearthed in California creek
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Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist working in San Mateo County, California, discovered a 10,000-year-old mastodon molar while surveying a creek for the threatened California red-legged frog.
The tooth is remarkably well-preserved, with both the crown and roots intact. Scientists identified the tooth as belonging to Mammut pacificus, the Pacific mastodon, a species formally recognized in 2019 after researchers noted differences from the more widespread American mastodon.
Paleontologists previously classified California’s Ice Age mastodons as American mastodons, but a 2019 study revealed consistent anatomical distinctions, including narrower molars and thicker femurs, establishing Mammut pacificus as a separate species. The newly discovered tooth will help scientists further understand this relatively recent addition to North American paleontology. Mastodons were elephant-like creatures that lived during the Pleistocene epoch, browsing on woody plants rather than grazing on grasses like mammoths.
They shared the landscape with other now-extinct megafauna, such as giant ground sloths and ancient camels. Researchers at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability are currently working to determine the tooth’s precise age and plan to create a 3D replica for educational purposes.
