Dried-up river exposes a rare fossil of the largest big cat on the continent, the American lion

[Disir]

The last thing Wiley Prewitt of Exford, Mississippi, expected to find on a walk was a fossil from an animal that roamed the region roughly 11,000 years ago.

Prewitt stumbled upon what resembled a jawbone with black teeth on October 26, near Rosedale, around 140 miles northwest of Jackson, as he poked around a sandbar that had exposed itself, due to the low water levels on the Mississippi River.
"I could tell from the teeth right away that it was a fragment of a carnivore’s jaw but I dared not hope it was from an American lion," he told McClatchy News. "It certainly looked right but I wouldn’t let myself believe it."

Was it the first of its kind? Surely it couldn't be the American lion? Questions were aplenty, and there was only one way to rightly confirm.

Three days later, Prewitt visited a Mississippi Fossil and Artifact Symposium & Exhibition event and asked for an expert opinion.

Little did he know that his discovery made history.

Dried-up river exposes a rare fossil of the largest big cat on the continent, the American lion

A drought-stricken river led to one the biggest discoveries in the Paleontological world: A fossilized jawbone of an American lion, one that roamed 340,000 years ago.

interestingengineering.com

That's kind of cool. Eight feet long, four feet tall and 1,000 pounds.

 

[JGalt]

I'd want to pet the kitty.

 

[GLASNOST]

Dried-up river exposes a rare fossil of the largest big cat on the continent, the American lion​

That's kind of cool. Eight feet long, four feet tall and 1,000 pounds.

Sounds like a tall tale to me.