Sensational discover: bones of historic elephants found close to Munich | EUROtoday
Bones of historic elephants found close to Munich
![Peter Kapustin (M), museum director of the Prehistoric Museum, explains the various finds related to the discovery of a prehistoric elephant cemetery in the Erding district in the Taufkirchen an der Vils town hall](https://img.welt.de/img/wissenschaft/mobile251045306/1312508907-ci102l-w1024/Pressekonferenz-zur-Entdeckung-eines-Urelefanten-Friedhofs-2.jpg)
![Peter Kapustin (M), museum director of the Prehistoric Museum, explains the various finds related to the discovery of a prehistoric elephant cemetery in the Erding district in the Taufkirchen an der Vils town hall](https://img.welt.de/img/wissenschaft/mobile251045306/1312508907-ci102l-w1024/Pressekonferenz-zur-Entdeckung-eines-Urelefanten-Friedhofs-2.jpg)
Peter Kapustin (center), finder and director of the Prehistoric Museum in Taufkirchen an der Vils, on the presentation of the elephant bones
Source: dpa
Experts communicate of a spectacular discover: a father and his two sons got here throughout the stays of three historic elephants within the Erding district. These have now been offered for the primary time. Not solely was the variety of bones shocking, but in addition their situation.
BUnusually well-preserved stays of three historic elephants have been found in Munich. According to consultants, the discover from the Erding district is a sensation as a result of variety of bones and their situation.
Proud finders: The two co-discoverers Constantin (l.) and Alexander (r.) Kapustin, sons of the museum director Peter Kapustin
Source: dpa
According to the finder and museum director Peter Kapustin, the bones are greater than ten million years outdated
Source: dpa
The animals, which weighed as much as 13 tons and reached a shoulder top of greater than 4 meters, belong to the genus Deinotherium and the species Deinotherium giganteus at. Their bones are greater than ten million years outdated, as Peter Kapustin, head of the Prehistoric Museum in Taufkirchen an der Vils, reported.
A younger animal is 70 p.c preserved
The discover contains 120 bones, together with the cranium and tusks of a younger animal that’s 70 p.c preserved. “He is spectacular. We know that these ancient elephants lived here. But relatively complete skeletons are rare,” mentioned Gertrud Rößner, senior curator for fossil mammals on the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology, who was concerned within the evaluation of the discover.
Kapustin's 9 and ten 12 months outdated sons have been the primary to find a bone on a slope whereas looking for fossils with their father. A months-long search then started, which additionally uncovered the bones of an enormous cat and an historic rhinoceros.
It is the biggest web site ever found of the deinotheres, the biggest land mammals in Europe, mentioned the geological preparator, Nils Knötschke. He spoke of a stroke of luck for science. The second well-preserved animal was bigger and older, however not but totally grown, in order that the event of the animals might be seen.
https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article251042866/Sensationsfund-Knochen-von-Ur-Elefanten-bei-Muenchen-entdeckt.html