Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1911 — Find Bone of Mastodon [ARTICLE]

Find Bone of Mastodon

Presented to Department of Zoology at University of Minnesota and Installed In Museum—Two v Other Bpecimer^£ St. Paul, Minn.—A vertebra of a prehistoric mastodon who roamed the plains of Minnesota 200,000 years ago, before the glaciers sweeping down from the north had devastated the feeding grounds of its kind, exhumed at Albert Lea by workmen excavating for a cellar, has just been received by the department of zoology at the university and installed in the museum. Discovered In a state where little research work In prehistoric life has been done, it Is considered by unlvexv sity specialists as a most valuable contribution to world-wide science. It is tiie second discovery of the kind made in Minnesota. Seven years ago a knee bone and leg bone of a mastodon were found at Brainerd, near White Fish lake, by a workman digging a ditch, and sent to the university museum. A year ago the head of a mastodon, found near

Valentine, Neb., consisting of the upper jaws, tusks and neck bones, was sent to the university, where It is now on exhibition. The three exhibits, representing the different parts of the body, give a good idea of the size and shape of the pre-glacial beast. The vertebra discovered at Albert Lea was found 12 feet below the surface of the ground, in the glacial drift, by Charles E. May. It is called the atlas bone, a vertebra located at the neck, and is of enormous sixe, measuring two feet across from shoulder to shoulder. From the top of the neck down it Is fully a foot deep. The bone is carefully preserved in every detail, there being no sign of crumbling or decay. Though the excavation at Albert Lea was prolonged in the hope of discovering other parts of the skeleton, none was discovered. The absence of other bones, however, is easily explained by experts in paleontology at the university. Members of the department say carnivorous beasts of that period who preyed upon the mastodon may. have detached the bone from the skeleton and carried It to the spot where it was found, either to eat the meet from it or play with it as a modern coyote, tiger or cat frequently plays with Its prey, or separating itself from the carcass as it decomposed, it may have rolled down a prehistoric hillside ho longer existing or have been carried there by the glaciers.