The deep, dark sea is stunning.
Down there, it's normal to see animals that are never seen before. Sources for precious new medicines can be collected, and many more are almost certainly waiting to be discovered.
The mammoth's three-foot-long tusk was not expected to be found by marine scientists. The specimen was collected off the California coast.
Steven Haddock, a marine scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, said in a statement that he was stunned that they found the ancient tusk of a mammoth.
As recently as 11,000 years ago, the ice age mammoths were seen in California. Paleontologists are still pulling bones out of tar.
How did a tusk get to the deep sea? It's not known, and likely will remain that way. Sometimes land-dwelling creatures are washed out into deeper ocean regions.
A scientist is holding a mammoth tusk. The credit is given to Darrin Schultz.
The tusk was excellently preserved in the deep sea. The research team will scrutinize the fossil to determine the creature's age. They think it's over 100,000 years old.
Daniel Fisher, a mammoth paleontologist, said in a statement that the specimen's deep-sea environment is different from anything they have seen elsewhere.
The more deep sea scientists explore, the more they will discover what lies in the depths.
"We know so little about the deep ocean that it's almost impossible for anyone to find something new down there," said Alan Leonardi, the director of the National Ocean Exploration and Research office.
