'Once in a lifetime': Amateur fossil hunter finds 4-foot mastodon tusk near Venice coast

A Tampa man made an incredible discovery while diving off the coast of Venice last month. While sifting through the sand, Alex Lundberg found a 4-foot mastodon tusk.

"This is once in a lifetime, is what I've been told it," said Lundberg with a laugh.

Right now, the 29-year-old amateur fossil hunter has the prehistoric relic decorating his Tampa apartment.

"It's in a box for Christmas lights, and it was next to my bed," he said in disbelief. "Finding a big enough cabinet to display it in is going to be the first challenge."

Lundberg explained that the discovery was made last month off Manasota Beach near Venice, a place he has explored many other times.

"I go in and I just see this piece right here sticking out, just a small strip of it. And, I was like, okay, like, that might be a tusk. We find lots of pieces out there, just broken stuff, all the time," he said

But this was no fragment. Rather, it was a lengthy 4-foot remnant.

He said he and his friend sawm with it to the boat and hoisted it over the side using a sling made out of a beach towel.

"It was absolutely surreal just getting it up because I was, you know, expecting it to crumble or fall apart because it's just, you don't find tusks like this in big sections," he said.

Hunter Windham, an education specialist with Bradenton's Bishop Museum of Science and Nature said, "All paleontologists are looking for that kind of diamond in the rough, right?"

MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/tech/science/fossil-hunter-finds-rare-tusk-venice/67-00e8b1f2-f989-4212-9e28-f949337f6f96

►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube
►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/
►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay
►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay

Видео 'Once in a lifetime': Amateur fossil hunter finds 4-foot mastodon tusk near Venice coast канала 10 Tampa Bay