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Rare Mastodon Skull Sold In Dallas Auction

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Jan 20, 2008 3:10 pm US/Central

Rare Mastodon Skull Sold In Dallas Auction

DALLAS (AP) ― The skull of a four-tusked mastodon believed to be one of the largest in the nation sold in an auction Sunday.

A 40-inch long skull of the prehistoric elephant-like animal, found in 2004 in a gravel pit in La Grange, was put up for sale after a small West Texas museum that has kept the artifact on display could no longer afford to keep it.

The skull fetched over $190,000 from a private bidder during the Heritage Auction Galleries' natural history auction.

The skull had been housed at the Mount Blanco Fossil Museum near Lubbock. Joe Taylor, curator and founder of the museum, said he needs the money to pay back investors who financed the excavation of the skull after it was discovered.

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