Today's Article

"They're building a dam. They're looking for crawdads. They're just in the mud and 4pulling things out and then one of them comes up and is like, 'This isn't a stick. This is a bone!'"

What they discovered was a radius bone of the 5ground sloth. The animal is named in honor of the third president, Thomas Jefferson, after he 6documented fossil bones he found of this animal in West Virginia in the late 1700s. Jefferson ended up carrying the fossils with him to Philadelphia. 

"It's part of Americana really, and he brought the bones of Thomas Jefferson's ground sloth to Philadelphia. He carried them with him when he went to Philadelphia to accept the vice presidency." 

An average size for these 7herbivores were around one and a half tons and about the size of an 8ox. 9Paleontologist Wayne Thompson says it may be one of the largest known 10radius bones ever found from this creature and it just so happens to be found by a group of youngsters in the Santa Cruz mountains. 

"We are so 11thrilled that young students were the ones who 12discovered this fossil. It's part of the museum's history to have young 13naturalists, young people who are interested in looking at nature, 14exploring and collecting." 

With only one bone found, the job isn't finished for the rest of the youngsters. 

"Does this make you guys want to look for more stuff like this?" 

"We are trying to find the rest of the 15skeleton if it's out there."