US Scientists Stumble Upon Fossilized Head of 330 Million-Year-Old Shark

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2-02-2020, 15:23

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Mammoth Cave National Park has quickly become a site of interest for scientists, as an ongoing project has resulted in the discovery of fossilized remains belonging to a 330 million-year-old shark and dozens of other specimens.

Rick Olson and Rick Toomey, two experts of central Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave tasked with mapping the structure, contacted Vitor Santucci, the senior paleontologist for the US National Park Service, after stumbling upon a fossilized figure that jutted out of the wall.

Santucci then got in touch with colleague John-Paul Hodnett of Maryland’s Dinosaur Park, who paid a visit to the cave in November 2019 as part of the Mammoth Cave National Park Fossil Shark Research Project.

"One set of photos showed a number of shark teeth associated with large sections of fossilized cartilage, suggesting there might be a shark skeleton preserved in the cave," he said, recounting the initial photos taken by Olson and Toomey.