About two years ago, scientists saw a strange thing off the coast of California. At first glance, it looked like a huge piece of wood. It was actually the tooth of a 3-foot-long giant mammoth. The tooth was discovered in 2019 by a research team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute while exploring a mountain in water about 10,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Daniel Fischer, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan, said in a press release that mammoth fossils have been extracted from the ocean before. Such objects are extremely rare to be found in the deep sea. Scientists eventually determined that the tooth belonged to a young female Columbian mammoth, possibly one that lived during the Lower Paleolithic era that existed between 2.7 million and 200,000 years ago.
Other fossils may be hidden in the depths of the ocean
Researchers are still working to determine the exact age of the creature. Along with this, constant efforts are also being made to know about the secrets related to her life, such as what she used to eat and how she lived. University of California researcher Katy Moon told The New York Times that it is a mix of ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. The discovery also indicates the presence of other ancient animal fossils in the depths of the ocean.
Scientists preparing to bring back mammoths
Earlier the news came that the giant woolly mammoths found on earth thousands of years ago can now once again be seen roaming in the forests. With the help of new funding and science, an amazing and revolutionary project has gained momentum. Thousands of years after giant creatures disappeared from ecosystems, scientists want to bring them back to Arctic forests within six years.
The hopes have been raised after mega-rich investor Ben Lam and business partner George Church raised £11 million for the project, The Guardian reported. Lam and Church’s firm Colossal specializes in gene editing software. Scientists are confident that they will be able to bring back the mammoth from the thousands of years old grave.
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