|
These are broken
halves of a hip socket of a shovel-tusked elephant.
Currently we do not have enough material to positively
identify which genus of Gomphothere we have at
the site.
These elephants are quite common in Miocene- and Pliocene-aged
deposits. The large, flat lower tusks of these
animals are unique (like a giant scoop shovel),
and were likely used (at least in some species) to strip
the bark off of trees and other vegetation.
|