An 11-year-old boy, taking a stroll with his family along a beach in England, spotted a massive fossilized tooth belonging to an extinct elephant species that roamed the Earth nearly 1.8 million years ago.
An 11-year-old boy, taking a stroll with his family along a beach in England, spotted a massive fossilized tooth belonging to an extinct elephant species that roamed the Earth nearly 1.8 million years ago. Charlie Orchard-Lisle made the remarkable find while walking with his family on East Lane beach in Bawdsey, Suffolk, in May, according to the New York Post.
"We were walking along and could see this thing by the lapping waves," Charlie's mother, Eleanor, said.
"It must have been quite distinctive because it caught both our eyes — we could tell it was something different, it had a different feel to it," she said.
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Experts later identified the fossil as an upper left molar from an Anancus avernensis, an extinct relative of today's African bush elephant that lived nearly two million years ago. According to paleontology Professor Adrian Lister from the Natural History Museum in London, the remarkable specimen measures around four inches wide and still retains its enamel, which became mineralized over hundreds of thousands of years.
Researchers believe the ancient tooth was likely exposed after erosion loosened it from Suffolk's fossil-rich Red Crag cliffs, a geological formation renowned for preserving prehistoric remains along England's eastern coastline.
Eleanor revealed that the discovery felt almost unbelievable because of the conversation she had shared with her son moments earlier.
"Basically, we were walking along, and 10 minutes before, my son Charlie was saying how much he loves elephants," she said.
Reflecting on the once-in-a-lifetime moment, she added, “I can’t believe you can find something so old that existed 1.8 million years ago and then just rocks up on the beach.”
