In addition to the mammoth skeleton, the excavation also uncovered the fossils of 700 other specimens, including a pre-historic American lion skull, lion bones, dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, juvenile horse and bison, teratorn, coyotes, lynx and ground sloths.

 

But the point of interest here are the fossilized remains of the mammoth researchers nicknamed Zed. Dr. John Harris, Chief Curator, Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, explained that the name signifies the beginning of a new era of research and discovery.

 

The researchers also dug out a pair of 10-feet long intact tusks belonging to the male Colombian mammoth, which they found in an ancient river bed near the other fossils discovered.

 

The team has put the excavations at the Pit 91 on hold, as they continue their work here. They’ve already lifted 23 blocks out of the earth, which they began to examine. The mammoth was not part of any of them, but was discovered in a nearby area.

 

The mammoth is currently at the Museum’s laboratory, where paleontologists are working on cleaning the fossilized remains of soil and other surrounding matter. While they do that, they also take time to analyze small fossils resulted from this process, belonging to turtle, snails, mollusks, tree trunks, insects and leafs.

 

The museum will officially exhibit the mammoth in 2010, when it plans to reopen the 1913 Building. The mammoth will be unveiled in the new Age of Mammals Halls, with other fossils from the Rancho La Brea collection.