All over the world, vestiges of the past rise to the surface of lakes and rivers that have dried up due to the lack of rain. Last October, a Mississippi resident discovered the fossilized jawbone of a large American lion while exploring a newly exposed sandbar in the Mississippi River, whose levels are currently abnormally low.
The teeth of a carnivore
The drought never ceases to reveal new discoveries. Today is the drying up of the Mississippi which revealed a very rare find. This is a rare fossil of american lion.
Wiley Prewitt, a Mississippi resident, discovered large black teeth attached to a piece of jawbone while exploring a sandbar near the town of Rosedale. ” Upon discovering the teeth, I immediately understood that it was a fragment of the jawbone of a carnivore. But I dared not hope it came from an American lion “, did he declare.
So he decided to bring his discovery to a Mississippi Fossils and Artifacts Symposium and Exhibit to seek expert advice. By examining the fossil, paleontologists confirmed that this jawbone belonged to a large American lion (Panthera atrox), a species that has been extinct for 11,000 years.
A rare fossil in this region
The National Park Service, an agency responsible for managing national parks, national monuments and a few other historic properties and protected areas in the US federal domain, says it’s only the fourth fossil of the species found in the east. the United States.
The existence of the great American lion was discovered in the 1830s, thanks to a fossil found in Natchez, Mississippi. According to scientists, this animal appeared on the American continent about 340,000 years ago. Many fossils of the species have been found in southern California. In contrast, very few fossils have been found in other parts of the United States.
« This fossil is so rare that any information gained from it will help us learn much more about this animal, not only as a species, but its role in the habitat of the Mississippi floodplain during the Pleistocene. said James Starnes, a geologist with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
As a reminder, the ruins of a 2,500-year-old ancient Greek city emerged after a dam dried up.