11,000-year-old monster emerges from the middle of a New York yard

According to Sci-News, the monster appeared when the owner of a house near Scotchtown village (Orange County, New York - USA) noticed something like 2 monster teeth right under the leaves in the backyard.

The man tried digging a little deeper in that area and discovered two more teeth.

“When I found the teeth and examined them with my hands, I knew they were something special and decided to call in the experts,” said the unnamed homeowner.

A team of researchers from the New York State Museum and SUNY Orange visited the site and determined that the teeth were the remains of a mastodon, a creature often mistaken for a mammoth but not a mammoth.

As they excavated a little further, they continued to find several more bone fragments including part of a jaw, ribs, toes...

Researchers say they are planning to expand the dig area as they believe there may be more fossils in the vicinity.

Even so, this initial discovery was already very valuable, especially the beast's jaw.

Mastodons were an ice age creature endemic to North America that went extinct about 11,000 years ago. So the specimen unearthed in New York is at least 11,000 years old, and could be several millennia older.

The animal's jaw and teeth promise to reveal its ancient diet, with wear details or possibly residue left behind.

This will help scientists understand more about the ancient ecosystems in which these beasts ruled.

Ice Age New York was likely the domain of this particular beast, with some 150 specimens of varying degrees of preservation having been found across the state.