Skeleton of 7 million year-old elephant ancestor found in eastern Romania
Romanian specialists from Vasile Parvan Museum in Barlad and the Faculty of Geology in Iasi recently discovered several skeleton fragments of an elephant ancestor who lived 7-8 million years ago in the area of Moldova plateau. The bones were discovered on the side of a country road in Gherghesti commune, in Vaslui county, eastern Romania.
The paleontologists found ivory, femur, tibia, and pelvic belt fragments belonging to the Deinotherium Giganteum species, an ancestor of the African elephant, reports local Mediafax. The animal was over 4 meters tall and about 3-4 meters long.
“The skeleton was slightly dispersed, horizontally overlapped, as it was deposited in the riverbed of a fluvial channel. We hope to find other elements besides those recovered so far and restore over 50% of the animal’s skeleton,” said Laurentiu Ursachi from Vasile Parvan Museum.
A similar specimen was found more than 100 years ago in Manzati, Vaslui county. The skeleton is now on display at Grigore Antipa Museum in Bucharest.
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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com
(photo source: commons.wikimedia.org, photo by: Flavius70)
