Young Child Finds Mastodon Tooth During Hike in Michigan
A six-year-old made a really cool discovery while hiking with his family.
Imagine being six years old and setting out on a hike to find a "dragon's tooth" and actually finding one...well kinda. Young Julian Gagnon was out on a hike with his family at Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Rochester Hills on September 6th, 2021. During the hike, Julian was lucky enough to find a cool fossil.
Julian was on a mission to find a dragon's tooth during the hike. While wading through a creek area, he found what he thought he was looking for. Turns out that the dragon's tooth that he found was actually a tooth from a mastodon, which had probably remained there untouched for 12,000 years.
Julian and his family contacted the University of Michigan's Museum of Paleontology about the discovery. Soon after, museum scientists were able to verify its authenticity. It turned out to be the upper right molar of a juvenile mastodon. Being the good kid that he seems to be, Julian has decided to donate it to the museum to make sure that it is preserved. And as a bonus/reward for the discovery, Julian will be able to meet the paleontologist in October for a behind-the-scenes tour or the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor Research Museums Center.
Before this article, I didn't even know that there was a Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Rochester Hills. The nature preserve is a 16-acre area of land that offers educational opportunities to residents along with classes, field trips, online videos, and on-site demonstrations.
Source: MLive
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