Third 20-million-year-old hippo-like fossil found on the Oregon Coast in 2 weeks
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Two weeks after beachgoers found two different fossils of extinct hippo-like mammals that lived on the Oregon Coast 23 to 25 million years ago, another specimen has been unearthed at Lincoln County Beach.
Retired Newport Harbormaster Kent Gibson told KOIN 6 News that he found the teeth and jawbone from a desmostylus fossil Wednesday morning — just like the fossils found on the Oregon Coast weeks prior. Gibson, known locally as “the fossil guy,” said that he’s found similar fossils in the past.
“About 12 years ago, I found a juvenile desmostylus skull that I donated to the Smithsonian, along with 6 other skulls at the time,” Gibson said.
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Win McLaughlin, an assistant geology professor at Southwestern Oregon Community College, told KOIN 6 News that the change of seasons likely has something to do with the recent spike in desmostylus fossils washing up on the Oregon Coast.
“We’re just at the time of the year where the coastline is switching from eroding material out into the ocean during winter storms to when sediments start to get pushed back up onto the beaches,” McLaughlin said. “This means the fossils are getting eroded out and exposed over winter and now moved around back onto the coast. Later in the spring and into summer, too much sand builds up, making finding the fossils harder.”
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The Oregon Coast from the Washington border to Bandon is also an excellent location to hunt for specimens from the Miocene epoch, she said. The Miocene represents the mid-point for the age of mammals, which happened roughly 23 to 25 million years ago.
“This is one of the better places in the world for Miocene Marine fossils,” McLaughlin said. “There’s also just some luck going on for sure.”
The reason all the recent desmostylus fossils found on the coast are of the animal’s teeth, she said, is because the “super weird critters” had some of the strongest chompers in Earth’s history.
“The teeth especially preserve well because desmos’ have some of the thickest enamel of any animal ever and enamel is the hardest life-made substance,” she said. “This makes the teeth more resistant to erosion than other fossils.”
McLaughlin said that she’s found all kinds of fossils on the Oregon Coast in her career, but she’s still hoping to find a desmostylus of her own.
“I’ve found whales, dolphins, walruses, sea lions, sharks and many shelled invertebrate fossils along the coast, but no desmostylids myself,” she said. “They aren’t the most common fossil, but they also aren’t that uncommon overall.”
While some species of desmostylus are thought to have only existed on the Oregon Coast, McLaughlin said that fossils of similar species are also found in Japan and along the West Coast from Baja Mexico to Washington.
“Overall, yes, it’s pretty uncommon to find multiple desmostylids in a small area in that much time, but they are out there,” she said. “Hopefully this is just the start. The Southwestern Oregon Community College teaching collection of fossils has one partial skull and one partial tooth. Neither of which is as nice as the new ones just found.”
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