Ancient Elephant Graveyard Uncovered in North Florida

Paleontologists and volunteers at the Montbrook Fossil Dig in North Florida have discovered several complete skeletons of gomphotheres, extinct relatives of elephants, that died in or near a river about 5.5 million years ago. The fossils were likely successively deposited or transported to the area, and the discovery is the most complete gomphothere skeleton from this time period in Florida and among the best in North America. Gomphotheres were among the most diverse proboscideans and spread to nearly every continent during their 20 million-year reign.