A 2.5 million year old skeleton of a mastodon has been found by miners in Romania. Paleontologists are very excited as the skeleton was found largely intact in the village of Rocusul de Sus, about 160 kilometres north-west of Bucharest. Believed to be one of the best preserved specimens in Europe, the mastodon skeleton is about three metres high and seven metres long.
The Eurasian mastodon, or Mammut borsoni, have been found in England, Germany, Netherlands, and now, Romania in the form of fossils and skeletal remains. The mastodon was a browser, chewing leaves rather than grazing like the woolly mammoth, a very similar creature. However unlike the woolly mammoth the mastodon was stockier and more robust in stature, with straight horizontal tusks. The mastodon became extinct in Europe 2-4 million years ago.
The skeleton dig will be finished in two months, and will go on display in the nearby museum of Baraolt.
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