A 12-year-old boy found 10,000 years of fossil mammoth teeth

Jackson Hepner discovered the fossilized tooth of the curly-haired mammoth protruding under the mud in a creek near the hotel in Ohio in July.

Hepner wanted to show his friends at the school of ancient mammoth teeth.(Photo: CNN).

Boy Hepner visited The Inn at Honey Run hotel in Millersburg, Ohio, with his family and found his tooth while playing in the creek. According to Jason Nies, the hotel owner, both his father and uncle are familiar with natural history. They immediately went online to search and identify fossils that could be mammoth teeth or mastodons.

The Jackson family and the hotel wanted to identify the origin of ancient fossils, so contacted some of the local professors, including archaeologist Nick Kardulias at Wooster University. Professor Kardulias confirmed that the 12-year-old boy's tooth was a mammoth tooth.

According to the Ohio Historical Center, both mammoths and mastodons have fossils scattered around the state. These two elephants became extinct about 10,000 years ago. Mammoths are herbivores, so their molars have many smooth edges to graze.