NEWS RELEASES
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through USA Today's website.
Last November, paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett was left stunned at the sight of a large, fossilized shark head in the walls of Mammoth Cave. The discovery began when Mammoth Cave specialists Rick Olson and Rick Toomey came across the fossils as they explored and mapped the cave system. The fossilzed shark head is from a shark that lived about 330 million years ago.Louisville Courier Journal writer, Emma Austin, relays in her article, "Fossils of shark skeletons are rare because cartilage does not typically survive fossilization. Shark teeth, however, are made of bone and enamel and preserve well. Since sharks replace their teeth throughout their lives, shark teeth are one of the most common fossils on the planet, Hodnett said." The fossils weren't parts to a full skeleton, but parts of a head that belonged to a shark, about the size of a Great White Shark, which ranges in length from 11 feet to 21 feet. Because the National Park Service has experienced fossil theft and vandalism in the past, it does not release information about the specific location of fossils found in its parks.To read more on Mammoth Cave, click here.