Prehistoric mammal bones on exhibit

Several bones from a prehistoric mammal that were uncovered in Carlsbad and Oceanside are now on exhibit at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation’s Discovery Center in Carlsbad.

The four bones from a mastodon, an elephant-like mammal, are on loan from the San Diego Natural History Museum.

The exhibit includes a femur and a vertebra, which were found in August 2002 at the Wanis View Estates in Oceanside and a tusk and molar both found during the excavation for the Robertson Ranch development in Carlsbad in June 2007, according to Samantha Richter, chief operating officer for the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation.

Richter estimates that the bones on display are about 100,000 years old.

“Mastodons first appeared about 27 to 30 million years ago and were present in North America until 10,000 years ago approximately,” Richter said.

The bones have been stored at the San Diego Natural History Museum for the last 10 years. The foundation’s programs coordinator, Emily Bonds, spearheaded the effort to ask the museum about displaying the bones at the center and then transporting them and setting up the display area.

The name mastodon means “nipple tooth,” which refers to the cone shape of the mastodon’s molar teeth. The shape of their teeth made it easier for them to eat woodbased food. Mastodons were herbivores and primarily browsers, who used their teeth to cut and crush twigs, leaves and other parts of shrubs and trees. Most of the plants they ate grew near wet areas in woodlands.

The Discovery Center is closed for indoor activities because of the pandemic, but the bones can be viewed at the entrance to the great room in the Discovery Center, 1580 Cannon Road in Carlsbad.

The exhibit, expected to be on loan for two years, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Admission is free for members; a $10 donation is suggested for nonmembers.