The story of Fred the mastodon, who died looking for love

The story of Fred ends tragically.

He was born thousands of years ago in the Midwestern United States and spent most of his early life at home. He left his family at one point in his adolescence to forge his own path.

Fred lived in Indiana for the rest of his life. He competed against other men for a mate. One of the fights that took Fred's life was one of the violent contests. Fred died at the age of 34.

The enormous skeleton of Fred is in the Indiana State Museum. His life was chronicled in a research study. A detailed account of Fred's seasonal migration patterns was created by analyzing the chemical compounds in his tusks.

One of the researchers who co-authored the paper was Josh Miller. He is a distant relative of the modern elephant and was named after a family farm.

Fred was given a unique research opportunity because of Miller's opinion that swamps were good for preservation. The opportunity to do this kind of work is provided by the fact that he has beautifully preserved bones and tusks.

Ddd.

The rings on a tree trunk are similar to the layers on mastodons' tusks. Fred's tusks can tell us a lot about where he was in his life. There is a daily record of Fred's behavior.

The team looked at the variations in strontium and oxygen. Miller said that the elements come in a variety of flavors and weights.

Strontium is used to understand where Fred spent his life. There are different ratios of strontium in the underlying geology of the region.

The season Fred was in was determined by the oxygen isotopes. The researchers have a better idea of the timing of Fred's migration patterns because of the different oxygen isotopes that are present.

Fred's tusks contain these two isotopes. Miller and his team were able to figure out when each piece of Fred's tusks began to grow.

When Fred was young, he would stay close to his herd and grow a lot. There is a year in which Fred's growth is not as fast as it could be.

Miller thinks that Fred was kicked out of the herd after he became a nuisance to his family.

Miller said that they're just getting in everyone's hair. They aren't helpful members of the herd. The aunts will boot that individual from the herd.

Fred's tusks reflected his travels as he fended for himself. He came back to Northeastern Indiana every summer. Around this time, Fred's tusks start to show signs of battle, so Miller thinks this was Fred's preferred place to have sex.

Mastodons get into huge battles when they compete for mates. One summer an opponent stabbed his tusk through Fred's skull.

His death brought the story of Fred to an end.