Diver discovers massive ancient tusk off coast of Florida

A fossil-hunting diver has found a rare fossil off the coast of Florida.

The section of tusk comes from a mastodon - a relative of the mammoth that lived on Earth for millions of years until they went extinct around 13,000 years ago.

Diver Alex Lundberg is pretty experienced at finding fossils like these, having found parts of mastodon tusks in the area before.

But his latest find is the biggest and most complete one.

In an interview, he said he won't be selling it because it's "priceless".

The tusk measures in at 1.2 metres. A full-sized tusk is estimated to be around 4.8 metres.

Alex Lundberg has found other fossils including mammoth teeth and bones of an ancient jaguar in the same place off Florida's Gulf Coast.

What is a mastodon?

A fossil of an American Mastodon is on display at the Natural History Museum in London

Historians say mastodons lived across the Earth, but only fossils found in North America have been strictly identified.

Mastodons are related to the modern day elephant and now-extinct mammoths.

They went extinct relatively recently in the history of life on Earth - around 13,000 years ago.

They had flatter heads than modern day elephants, and were thought to have been affected by climate change but also by hunting by humans.