By Tim Binnall
An ancient mastodon tooth went on something of an adventure over the weekend when it was first found on a beach in California and then vanished before being discovered once again. The strange saga reportedly began last Friday afternoon in the coastal community of Rio Del Mar when a woman walking along beach stumbled upon the foot-long specimen. Thinking that it was merely a peculiar piece of driftwood, she snapped some photos of the odd object and later posted the pictures on social media. The images quickly caught the attention of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History's paleontology collections advisor Wayne Thompson, who identified it as a mastodon tooth.
Alas, when he ventured to the spot on the beach where the woman had spotted the tooth, the incredibly rare specimen was nowhere to be found. Despite a series of searches by museum staff and volunteers over the weekend, the precious piece of the past could not be located, which led to a proverbial all points bulletin being issued by the museum across social media in the event that someone else in the area might have extracted the tooth from the sand without realizing its scientific significance. Fortunately, their appeal to the public proved to be successful as the museum received a call on Tuesday morning from a man who had come into possession of the sought-after specimen.
Local resident Jim Smith explained that he found the ancient object while jogging along the beach earlier that day and, similar to the woman who had originally discovered it, was unsure of what exactly it might have been. However, in this instance, he opted to pick it up and bring it home, which is when he saw the tale of mysterious missing mastodon tooth on the news. An excited Smith promptly phoned the museum to share the good news and subsequently turned the specimen over to them so that it could be properly care for and studied before eventually being put on display for the public to see.