(CN) — A new study out of the University of Michigan tracked the migration pattern of a mastodon, an elephant-like mammal. Despite being extinct for 13,000 years, researchers have found a way to tell this animal's life story.
This mastodon's remains were found in 1998 on a peat farm near Fort Wayne, Indiana. Named the Buesching mastodon, this 8-ton adult allowed researchers to document the annual migration of an extinct animal for the first time.
A mastodon's tusks are similar to tree rings, recording their lives from birth — the plants and water consumed by a mastodon left traceable chemicals in their tusks. As a result, the scientists could drill small increments of the Buesching mastodon's tusks and use strontium and oxygen isotope ratios to track his movements.
The results are specific, giving researchers the age of the mastodon and what time of year particular travels were made.
"You've got a whole life spread out before you in that tusk," said Daniel Fisher, a University of Michigan paleontologist and study co-author, in a press release. Fisher helped excavate the Buesching mastodon twenty-four years ago.
Strontium isotope geochemistry analyzes samples for the ratio of the trace element strontium — which provides a kind of geologic fingerprint. These ratios are compared to map locations with strontium landscape data. The oxygen isotope values aid in identifying seasonal fluctuations, giving the scientists the year the tusk was formed.
"The field of strontium isotope geochemistry is a real up-and-coming tool for paleontology, archaeology, historical ecology, and even forensic biology. It's flourishing. But, really, we have just scratched the surface of what this information can tell us," Joshua Miller, a University of Cincinnati paleoecologist and study co-author.
The Buesching mastodon's home was central Indiana. Eventually, he would travel approximately twenty miles a month as an adult. Then, each summer, he would travel to northern Indiana to what researchers presume were mating grounds.
"Every time you get to the warm season, the Buesching mastodon was going to the same place — bam, bam, bam — repeatedly. The clarity of that signal was unexpected and really exciting," said Miller.
Approximately 13,200 years ago, at thirty-four years old, the Buesching mastodon died when another mastodon's tusk impaled the right side of his skull, likely during a mating-season battle. He passed over one hundred miles from his homelands.
The next steps are to study and map the tusk and life of another mastodon for overlapping trends and new insights into their ancient lives.
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