9 y.o. N.Mexico boy finds 1.2 million y.o. Stegomastodon fossil
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/fossil-discovery-new-mexico-boy-trips-falls-stegomastodon-a7849931.html
..."Nine-year-old Jude Sparks was walking with his family in Las Cruces, New Mexico when he tripped and fell over something protruding from the dirt.
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According to Peter Houde, a biology professor at New Mexico State University who the family consulted, the skull belonged to a 1.2 million-year-old Stegomastodon a distant relative of the elephant, similar to a mastodon.
This is really very unusual to find, Mr Houde told The New York Times, adding that it was fantastic that such a young person had made the discovery.
Stegomastodon fossils are a rare find in the US, for reasons scientists have yet to pin down. Only a couple hundred have been found in the world, according to Spencer Lucas, curator of palaeontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.".... (more)