Six-year-old boy discovers rare 12,000-year-old Mastodon tooth in Michigan creek

Six-year-old Julian Gagnon’s random stroll turned out to be an incredible discovery in the world of paleontology. He went on an outing with his family at the Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Rochester Hills where he happened to find a 12,000-year-old piece of a Mastodon tooth.

The Mastodon, an elephant-like mammal, used to be found in the lands of North and Central America.

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The tooth found by Julian is equal to the size of a human hand. Initially, the little boy and his family thought that his foot had hit a rock. According to reports , when Julian picked up the fossil, he realized that it wasn’t just an ordinary rock but looked like a tooth. The boy’s family informed researchers at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology who confirmed that it was a rare discovery of a Mastodon tooth.

Abby Drake, the docent at the University of Michigan’s Museum of Natural History, said that he was a little jealous of the boy’s discovery as it was extremely rare. The museum is home to some unique mastodon fossils and Drake wished they would find more to exhibit in the museum as it is hard to come across fossils in this era.

At first, Julian’s father wanted to throw off the tooth back, but then the family gave it a second thought, believing that what they found was indeed something rare. Julian was excited too, as he thought he might get rich and get money for his discovery.

The boy wanted to be an archaeologist but thinks that this discovery is perhaps a sign of him being a paleontologist.

Julian has decided to donate the tooth to the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Paleontologists are estimating that the tooth is of a young Mastodon , one who is in its 20s. They hope to engage in more in-depth research in order to find out that if Mastodons date back to 12,000 years ago, this discovery can be a nod to both history and the future.