Nearly intact Mammoth skeleton found in Los Angeles

(image found on LAtimes.com)
In a construction site near the La Brea Tar Pits in Downtown Los Angeles, skeletal remains of a Columbian mammoth from the ice age were recently unconvered.

"The mammoth, dubbed "Zed" by researchers at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, likely died in his late 40s some 40,000 years ago and was found near an unprecedented treasure trove of fossils that workers stumbled upon while digging the foundation for an underground parking garage.

"What makes this so special, so exciting for us is that Zed is a complete specimen," laboratory supervisor Shelley Cox said while showing off his dirt-encrusted, dinner table-sized brown pelvic bone for reporters.

"And he's really big compared to the mammoths we've recovered from La Brea before," Cox said. "The tusks are considerably larger than anything we had expected."

The Columbian mammoth was a species of elephant that became extinct near the end of the last ice age."

Wow, this is pretty incredible. I wonder what other big goodies lie intact below the LA area.

Mammoth skeleton found nearly intact in Los Angeles (Reuters UK)
Nearly intact mammoth skeleton a rare find in L.A. (CNN.com)
Major cache of fossils unearthed in L.A. (LA Times)