Questions arise after excavation of California mammoth skull
LOS ANGELES — Scientists at the Channel Islands National Park, just off the Southern California coast, have excavated a rare and well-preserved mammoth skull fossil from Santa Rosa Island, the park announced Wednesday.
Justin Wilkins, a paleontologist from The Mammoth Site in South Dakota who worked with a team for the past week to unearth the fossil from an eroding stream bank, said the discovery is of high scientific importance.
“It’s pretty spectacular-looking,” he told the Ventura County Star . “It’s one of the best mammoth skulls I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of good mammoth skulls,” he said.
The fossil was first discovered in 2014 by Peter Larramendy, a biologist from the national park who came across its ivory tusk protruding from gravel sediment in a canyon wall.