Michigan Family Who Just Wanted to Swim Finds Extinct Trophy Elk
About a month ago, there was news of a Michigan family finding the skull and antlers of an adult bull elk - at the bottom of a lake - in an area where elk hadn't been seen since the 1800s. An elk that wondered down from up north or some other far flung location? Actually, no. Much cooler.
According to MLive.com, while they were moving their swimming platform on Sullivan Lake, south of Flint, the Bleau family got their anchor stuck on something that felt like a log. When they brought it up, it was a 6 x 6 bull elk's skull and antlers. After the story came out, the Cranbrook Institute of Science took it to get tested at Beta Analytics, a radiocarbon dating lab, which estimated its age at between 220 and 250 years old. The bull was an Eastern elk, not one of the transplanted Rocky Mountain elk we have in Michigan these days. The last native Eastern elk documented in Michigan was seen in 1875. The Eastern elk were actually larger than the Rocky Mountain elk we know today in Michigan.
This isn't the first time the remains of these elk have been found in Michigan.
Keep a sharp eye out.
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