Farmer in America mistakes woolly mammoth for a bent fence post

He went on to explain that over the years they have recovered about 300 mastodons in comparison to only 30 mammoths.

Bristle gave the U-M team one day to recover the remains.

About a fifth of the animal’s bones have been retrieved during an excavation, including the skull and two tusks, numerous vertebrae and ribs, the pelvis and both shoulder blades. Bristle says he and a friend were digging Monday when they found what they thought was a mud-covered, bent fence post. Photo credit: Daryl Marshke, Michigan PhotographyMammoths and mastodons-another elephant-like prehistoric creature-once roamed North America before disappearing about 11,700 years ago.

Evidence supporting that idea includes three basketball-sized boulders that could have been used to anchor the carcass in a pond, that were recovered next to the mammoth remains.

University of Michigan professor Dan Fisher called out instructions as students and faculty worked together to carefully slide and lift a mammoth skull out of the truck’s bed.

He added: “We think that humans were here and may have butchered and stashed the meat so that they could come back later for it”.

Bristle said he’s donating the discovery to the university.

Study of the bones may shed light on when humans arrived in the Americas, a topic of debate among archaeologists.

The actual bones that were taken from the earth, the ones that passers-by were able to see up close and touch at Bristle’s farm, will never be displayed in the museum.

Jim said: “I’m just so glad to see the enthusiasm, and it’s not just from the kids, the adults who come out here are overwhelmed by this”.

“You’d be surprised how often we get neat things coming in here, but this is one of the coolest days ever”, assistant director of education for the natural history museum Kira Berman said as she watched the truck being unloaded.