California: Elementary school children find 11,500-year-old fossil

Prehistoric giant sloth
Elementary school children find a fossil that is at least 11,500 years old

Students from Tara Redwood School California have found bones of a prehistoric giant sloth. The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History in northern California said it is now in possession of a prehistoric left arm bone from a Jefferson sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii). The group of elementary school children had actually been searching for other creatures in a stream in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “They built a dam and looked for crayfish,” a teacher at the school told broadcaster KSBW. “They were in the mud pulling things out and then one of them came and said, ‘That’s not a stick, that’s a bone’.”

California: Museum checks for provenance and publicly displays fossil

The museum’s fossil expert is now supposed to examine the piece for its possible origin. Museum director Felicia Van Stolk wrote in a statement: “Fossils are a great way to get people interested in the past.” And further: “We are thrilled that the students have made this important discovery that will inspire generations of museum visitors and scientists.”

The bones found come from the giant sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii. The animal was a leaf eater and lived in North America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. It weighed around 1000 kilograms and could grow up to three meters tall. The fossil could be between 11,500 and 300,000 years old and will be on display at the museum until May 26.

Sources: Mirror, Santa Cruz Museum,

Yep