Digging up a Mastodon
The Mastodon Replica represents the male juvenile Mastodon whose bones were unearthed in 1991 at the National Gypsum Quarry near Milford, Nova Scotia. The model was based on information supplied by archeologists at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, who recovered the skeleton and studied the bones. Mastodons are believed to be closely related ancestors to modern elephants, differing in the structure of their teeth and the fact that they were covered in a thick coat of hair for protection in the Northern Climate.
- He was found at the National Gypsum Quarry site (about 15km from Mastodon Ridge) in a Gypsum sinkhole
- He lived about 79 000 years ago
- He was about 22 years of age and died in the Spring
- To excavate the bones, scientists removed about 15 tones of earth from the site
- A juvenile Mastodon was also found at the same site
- Mastodons gathered at the gypsum sinkhole site for minerals in the soil
- The sinkhole preserved an incredible variety of other plants and animals of the time
