ALPINE, Texas – A deer hunter at a West Texas ranch discovered a rare Mammoth tusk, according to a press release from the Center for Big Bend Studies.
The unusual discovery was made at the O2 Ranch, a privately owned ranch in Brewster and Presidio Counties.
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O2 Ranch Manager Will Juett said he was “skeptical when a deer hunter showed a picture of what he thought was a fossil.”
Juett contacted multiple researchers at the Center for Big Bend Studies, who reached out to a graduate student at the University of Kansas specializing in environmental archaeology, the news release mentioned.
The researchers, the graduate student and two anthropology professors met at the ranch to further investigate the discovery.
“It paid off big time,” Juett said. “When they confirmed what they had uncovered, I couldn’t believe it.”
The researchers quickly verified that the finding was an actual Mammoth tusk, according to the release.
“We realized pretty quickly that there was not more to the skeleton; it was just an isolated tusk that had been separated from the rest of the remains,” said one of the researchers.
As researchers examine the discovery using advanced technologies, it ignites imaginations, the release stated.
“Now, I can’t help but imagine that huge animal wandering around the hills on the O2 Ranch,” Juett said. “My next thought is always about people that faced those huge tusks with only a stone tool in their hand.”