Construction crew in Oceanside uncovers 45-million-year-old rhino-like fossils
Workers digging a road project in Oceanside uncovered fossilized bones of a large odd-toed mammal that lived about 45 million years ago.
A routine construction project in Oceanside, Southern California, revealed a cache of prehistoric bones buried roughly 12 feet below the surface. The discovery, announced by city officials, includes limb bones, ribs and a sizable femur, all encased in mudstone and sandstone of the Eocene-age Santiago Formation. Dr. Joseph El Adli, the paleontologist on site, ordered a temporary stop to the work and oversaw a seven-day rescue operation, carefully extracting the specimens and wrapping them in plaster for transport to a laboratory.
Scientists say the remains could represent a brontothere—sometimes dubbed a “thunder beast”—or a swamp-rhino, both herbivorous odd-toed mammals related to today’s rhinos. The animal likely died, dried out, and was later buried by flood-borne sediments. Oceanside has previously yielded Ice Age fossils, making the area a notable spot for paleontological finds, and the bones are slated for display in a museum after analysis.
