Peruvian scientists found mastodon fossils in the Chambará district, Concepción province, in the mountains of the Junín region. ANDINA/Diffusion
Peruvian scientists found the fossil remains of a mastodon that belonged to the Pleistocene period: Cordillera Mastodon (Cuvieronius hyodon) in the city of Candaduyoc, located in the district of Chambará, province of Concepción, region of Junín.
The incredible paleontological discovery was led by Óscar Díaz Illescas, who was accompanied by a group of Peruvian researchers and residents of the area.
This scientific discovery was highlighted by the Geological Mining and Metallurgical Institute (Ingemmet), which concluded that the discovery is unique in Peru and ranks the Chambará district among the most important paleontological sites in the country.
Mastodons were large mammals that belonged to the American megafauna of the Pleistocene epoch (2.58 Ma to 11,700 years ago), including the family Gomphotheriidae (Gomphotheriidae), many of them immigrants from North America near the Isthmus of Panama.
In Peru, these primitive relatives of elephants lived mainly on the coast and in the mountains, such as Cuvieronius hyodon and Notiomastodon platensis. The discovery was made in Quaternary lands and preserved three individuals (an unusual amount). One of them in good condition and almost complete, whose studies will be able to determine to which species they belonged.
In this regard, Ingemmet stated that, as the governing body of paleontology in Peru, he provided advice on the discovery of mastodon fossil remains at Candaduyoc.
He specified that the biologist Iván Meza Vélez, a specialist in vertebrate fossils from the Ingemmet project “Management and promotion of the Paleontological Heritage of Peru”, met with the mayor of the Chambará district, Ciro Quispe Garay; the president of the community of Chambará Raúl Rivera and the person responsible for the discovery, the engineer Oscar Díaz Illescas.
According to science, the probable extinction of mastodons would date between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. It was the only species of the mentioned genus that lived on this subcontinent. Its size was similar to today’s elephant.
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Published: 9/18/2024
