Mammoth tusk recovered off the coast of California

A rare and ancient mammoth tusk has been discovered by researchers off the coast of California.

The discovery, made by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), could help to fill in huge gaps about the history of mammoths in North America.

Experts first spotted the tusk back in 2019, but were only able to collect a tiny piece at the time before returning back to the site in 2021.

The tusk was identified over 3,000 metres under the ocean and researchers have concluded that it is over 100,000 years old!

The cold, high-pressure environment of the water preserved the tusk and allowed researchers to study the discovery in greater detail.

The researchers have confirmed that the tusk is about one metre long!

A unique discovery

Experts were stunned at the tusk's discovery as it was deep in the ocean and is very different to what they have seen before. The MBARI team have been exploring waters off the coast of California for more than three decades.

"Other mammoths have been retrieved from the ocean, but generally not from depths of more than a few...metres," says mammoth expert Daniel Fisher.

Now, several researchers from different labs and universities will investigate how the tusk may have arrived deep offshore

The team believes that it could be the oldest well-preserved mammoth tusk recovered from this region of North America.