Retired teacher finds mammoth shoulder blade bone while walking dogs west of Edmonton | 24CA News
Stacy Long was strolling her two Great Danes west of Edmonton final spring when she discovered what gave the impression to be a big bone.
Long hoped the metre-long object was a bone, however as a result of her canine, Bart and Boss, did not appear in any respect , she thought it would simply be piece of petrified wooden.
Though the canine weren’t intrigued, the quaternary paleontology group on the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton was.
Long submitted images of the article to a number of museums and Royal Alberta Museum employees lately instructed her they suspected she had discovered a partial mammoth shoulder blade bone. The museum estimates the animal it got here from was alive about 10-14,000 years in the past.
The museum just isn’t publicizing the precise location of the invention as a result of it needs to stop individuals from looking the world. Paleontologists plan to go to the location within the spring.
“I was definitely shocked,” Long instructed 24CA News on Thursday.
This is not Long’s first discovery.
The retired trainer beforehand discovered a part of a hadrosaur’s tibia bone, which the Royal Tyrell Museum recognized for her.
She has additionally discovered what the Royal Alberta Museum believes to be a partial cranium of an historic bison.
Paleontologist Katherine Bramble mentioned Long’s mammoth discovery is particular as a result of the museum does not have many specimens. The museum has one different mammoth shoulder blade, but it surely belonged to a juvenile, not an grownup.
“They’re not as common to find as other things, like dinosaurs,” she mentioned.
She mentioned most mammoth specimens are present in sand and gravel pits, so she and her colleagues had been very excited {that a} member of the general public discovered one in a unique context.
Long has donated the bone to the museum, the place will probably be added to its analysis and reference assortment.
The museum’s consultants do not but know which sort of mammoth the bone got here from. Two species, the Columbian and wooly mammoths, are recognized to have lived in Canada. Columbian mammoths had been the larger of the 2.
The museum has been utilizing illustrations of the woolly mammoth in its official logos since 1990.
Bramble mentioned the museum will examine Long’s bone to different mammoth bones which were discovered.
Staff might additionally use radiocarbon relationship to find out its age.
Long mentioned she donated the specimen to the museum as a result of she needs to share it with others.
“I’m excited for little kids to be able to go there and see it and learn from it,” she mentioned.
She mentioned she appreciated how welcoming museum employees had been. They gave her a tour and educated her about what she had discovered.
Since the museum shared her story on social media yesterday, Long mentioned a variety of former college students have been contacting her to seek out out extra about it.
“A few of them are teachers now themselves so they’ve been asking lots of questions,” she mentioned.
