GERMANY: PALAEONTOLOGISTS BEGIN DIGGING OUT AN ANCIENT UNKNOWN ELEPHANT-LIKE ANIMAL FROM A SAND PIT

Record ID: 648663

  • Title: GERMANY: PALAEONTOLOGISTS BEGIN DIGGING OUT AN ANCIENT UNKNOWN ELEPHANT-LIKE ANIMAL FROM A SAND PIT
  • Date: 5th July 2004
  • Summary: (EU) JUNKENHOFEN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. HEAVY MACHINERY IN SAND PIT; SLV EXCAVATION SITE CLOSE UP OF SAND 2. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF TUSKS WHEN THEY WERE DISCOVERED IN 2002; SCU PHOTO OF SITE WITH YELLOW TAPE MARKING WHERE TUSKS WERE FOUND (2002); SCU BOOK 3. (SOUNDBITE) (German) HANS-JOACHIM GREGOR, PALAEONTOLOGIST, AND LEADER OF THE EXCAVATION, SAYING: "At first we thought we had this kind of elephant (points to Gomphotherium) with round tusks but now we have discovered that it is an elephant that had lower tusks in the shape of shovels (points to Amebelodon), with which it dug up roots or fished in water, in other words, it lived very differently from the other one." 4. SCU DRAWING IN BOOK 5. SCIENTISTS DIGGING; CLOSE UP OF PALAEONTOLOGIST WORKING; SCIENTIST DIGGING 6. (SOUNDBITE) (German) KURT HEISSIG, PALAEONTOLOGIST SAYING "We can assume this discovery is between fourteen and fifteen million years old, we can't say for sure because we can't place the layers of sand yet. It is not a relative of our elephants today, today's elephants have developed from a different line through elimination of the lower tusks and complications in the molar teeth." 7. SCIENTIST DIGGING; CLOSE UP OF TUSK 8. (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEISSIG, SAYING: "We scientists are just thrilled when we see something like this, I must say. Even if we have seen all sorts of other wonderful discoveries and excavations, it always makes one so happy to see one like this. Especially if it is something that doesn't happen here in Bavaria too often." 9. VARIOUS OF EXCAVATION SITE 4.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JUNKENHOFEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVABS9PDJEQBBY6X9GTE15RNEUVK
  • Story Text: Palaeontologists begin digging out an ancient
    unknown elephant-like animal from a sand pit.

    When they first discovered the tusks of the
    elephant-like creature in the sand about 40 kilometres
    north of Munich, they thought it was a Gomphotherium, a
    pre-historic animal in the mammoth and elephant family.

    Hans-Joachim Gregor saw the remains of the bones by
    chance, two years ago, as he was driving past the sand pit
    one day. Excavations could not begin until recently due to
    the fact that the sand pit was still in use.

    Gregor said he noticed two brown stripes in the wall,
    parallel to one another, which could have only been two
    tusks. As excited as they were at the find, they still
    could not know exactly what kind of an animal it was. As
    the digging got underway, Gregor said the scientists were
    astounded to discover that it was not Gomphotherium at all.

    "At first we thought we had this kind of elephant
    (points to Gomphotherium in a book) with round tusks but
    now we have discovered that it is an elephant that had
    lower tusks in the shape of shovels (points to Amebelodon),
    with which it dug up roots or fished in water, in other
    words, it lived very differently from the other one," he
    added.

    Another palaeontologist involved in the dig, Kurt
    Heissig, estimates the bones are between 14 and 15 million
    years old. Some have been destroyed through the sand pit digging but a
    shoulderblade, a thigh bone, some vertebrae
    and the shovel-shaped tusks are still in relatively good
    condition, he said.

    This is only the second time a prehistoric elephant has
    been discovered in continental Europe. In 1971 scientists
    excavated a near-complete animal in Muehldorf, also in
    Bavaria.

    "We scientists are just thrilled when we see something
    like this," Heissig said. "Even if we have seen all sorts
    of other wonderful discoveries and excavations, it always
    makes one so happy to see one like this. Especially if it
    is something that doesn't happen here in Bavaria too often."

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