Mother and Son Find Mammoth Tusks 22 Years Apart in Same Place

Some traits are passed on through genetics. The ability to find wooly mammoth tusks in White Mountain, Alaska is apparently one of them. Andrew Harrelson found a tusk there earlier this week, 22 years after his mother Luann Harrelson found one there too.

Andrew told Alaska Dispatch News that he has vague memories of when his mother and father brought home a tusk when he was three years old. Luann and her husband were fishing when Luann spotted a tusk in the river. She wasn’t sure what it was, but suspected it might be a fossil. Her husband Daniel went back later to retrieve it.

The story of how Andrew found his fossil was similar. He took his fiancée and two young daughters fishing at the same river bend where his mother found her tusk. After only catching one fish he decided to try to find a tusk, and sure enough he did.

Andrew plans to sell his tusk and use the money for a downpayment on a house. It should certainly help. He measured the tusk to be 12-feet long and weigh 162 lbs, and with tusks selling for upwards of $75/lb to collectors, he stands to make a good amount on the sale.

(Alaska Dispatch News via Phys.org, image via Simon Law)

Previously in mammoths

• Turns out humans killed off the wooly mammoth, not the ice age
• But some humans are working on bringing them back with cloning
• Thanks to some blood that was just recovered Jurassic Park-style

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