We’ve been encountering a lot of gomphothere bones lately, including some juvenile gomph fossils! One of the coolest discoveries today was a nicely exposed gomphothere thoracic vertebrae, which is the middle part of the backbone.
Gomphotheres were a very large, diverse group of elephant-like proboscideans. They’re all extinct now, but many lived here in Florida. A good example is Britt’s shovel-tusker, Amebelodon britti, which weighed as much as 22,000 pounds. This species was one of the largest land mammals to have ever lived in North America. Read about Amebelodon britti
Jonathan Bloch uncovered a beautiful accumulation of fossils right at the end of the day and directly under the gomphothere bones. They could be associated or just a jumble of different species. We’ll have to find out tomorrow!
