Divers find two mammoth tusks off coast
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VENICE, Florida (WBBH) — Divers found two Columbian Mammoth tusks in the Gulf of Mexico just off of Venice’s coast.
Ryan Picou and Blair Morrow both found the mammoth tusks while diving in Venice. Picou said he first saw the mammoth tusk he found 20 feet away and knew exactly what it was from helping Morrow recover her tusk a week prior.
“My first thought was I better calm down and manage my air because I was down to the last bit of my tank and needed to at least get a marker up, so I could come back and dig it out,” Picou said.
Picou, who grew up just north of Tampa in Land O’ Lakes, said he was Scuba certified in August 2019 and before that, sifted and free dived for fossils at a young age.
“The tusks are the coolest things I’ve found so far,” Picou said. “I’ve also found a mammoth tooth in the jaw about a month ago and a 5.7″ Megalodon Tooth just two days ago!”
He said his favorite places to dive are Venice and The Cooper River in South Carolina. Prior to finding the Columbian Mammoth tusk, he also said he found a mammoth leg bone just moments before.
The Columbian Mammoths lived about 1.5 million years ago, up until their extinction just over 11,000 years ago, according to historians. It was the largest of its kind reaching a height of 13-feet-tall.
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