Imagine finding giant mastodon teeth... in your garden!

What's the strangest thing you've ever found in your garden? Whatever your answer, we'd bet it isn't as strange as this!

A couple gardening at their home in New York came across some huge teeth in the ground.

They called in some experts who dug a little further and found even more.

The remains belonged to a mastodon, a relative of the mammoth that lived on Earth until around 13,000 years ago.

Staff from the New York State Museum said the jaw and parts of some other bones were found in the garden in September 2024.

Robert Feranec, who works at the museum, said the person who made the discovery didn't want to be named - but they did say they initially thought the teeth were baseballs.

An excavation which was helped by the State University of New York, found a well-preserved jaw of an adult mastodon, a piece of a toe bone and part of a rib.

People at the museum said it was the first complete jaw that had been found in New York in 11 years.

Robert Feranec said the jaw will help to "enhance our understanding of the Ice Age ecosystems" from the region it was found.

Teams will now try and work out how old the fossils are, as well as analysing them to find out more about the mastodon's age, diet and what its habitat was like during its lifetime.

The pieces are set to go on display in the museum in 2025.