By Amanda Beck
Mon Mar 17, 1:08 PM ET



SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California resident Nancy Fiddler has put for sale on eBay a mastodon skeleton that takes up most of her garage. The minimum bid -- $115,000.


Her family's relationship with the Ice Age relative of the elephant has run its course.

Fiddler said they need the money an online auction could bring, and her son would prefer to build hot rod cars in the space the creature now occupies.

The Fiddlers also would like to use their sauna, which in the last four years has served as an additional repository for the huge plastic casts containing the animal's bones.

"We needed a safe, dry place," Fiddler said, explaining why they chose to sacrifice the sauna. "The mastodon takes precedence."

Mastodons, which stood 10 feet tall with trunks and tusks, migrated to North America about 15 million years ago and ranged all over the continent with saber tooth tigers, giant sloths and American camels. All met their extinction about 10,000 years ago.

A ranch hand discovered a mastodon tooth on the Fiddler ranch in northeastern California in 1997. Excavation revealed a rare, nearly complete mastodon skeleton that included everything but the tusks.

"It's a beautiful specimen," said paleontological consultant Bruce Hanson, who helped move the skeleton to the Oakland Museum of Natural History, where it was on display for several years.

After the museum made a replica, the Fiddlers moved the mastodon to the tasting room of a California wine bar. Then it found its way to their garage.

One paleontologist said he was skeptical that the Fiddlers would get as much as they want for the mastodon.

"What is it going to do? Sit on someone's mantle?" said Mark Goodwin of the University of California Museum of Paleontology. "I would prefer to see it donated to a museum. This is our fossil heritage."

(Editing by Xavier Briand)


Personally i'd like to see it go in a museum too! If not where the heck would you keep it, in box's? Unless you have one very huge rec. room in your house!

I thought there was a law about selling fossils? I thought was illegal to sell them.

I dont know whether it's illegal to sell fossils or not, but I agree that it should be donated to a museum. Doesn't sound like they're going to do it though because they need the money......

Maybe a donation, with the resultant tax-deduction, would be this family's best option. I guess I'll try to track the auction to see what happens.

If your able to track it i'd be very interested in any info. you can share with us!

Item number: 190206826031

Auction ends Mar-25-08 09:08:25 PDT


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Up for auction today is another eBay first! This is a 3 million year old mastodon excavated from right here in California!

These remains are of the American Mastodon or Mammut americanum.
The mastodon is a relative of the wholly mammoth, as well as the present day African Elephant. At the time of discovery, it was heralded as a rare opportunity for paleontologists to study an early example of this nearly complete pre-historic fossil.

The discovery

In 1997 Eric Pedersen, a ranch hand working on Rustler Ranch found a tooth sticking out from a stream bank. At first, the tooth looked like an arrowhead. Once the tooth was dug out, it was apparent that something much more significant had been found.

The ranch owner, Roger Fiddler was fascinated by the find, and invited a paleontologist to identify the tooth. Upon removing the top layer of soil, a nearly intact mastodon skeleton was found in the exact position in which it died. The only parts missing are the tusks, which were probably eroded away by the nearby stream.

Roger Fiddler contacted the Oakland Museum of California for help in excavating the skeleton. Roger wanted the skeleton to be preserved, studied and made available to the public.


Rustler Ranch is located in Modoc County, of North Eastern California. It is closest to the small town of Lookout, CA. See it on a map

The excavation

Six members of the Oakland Museum science department staff joined Roger and his wife to excavate the skeleton. In eight days the skeleton was excavated, prepped for transport and loaded onto a flatbed truck for the journey to Oakland.

Bruce Hansen was given the task of supervising the excavation. He commented that this skeleton is "One of the more spectacular skeletons I've run across."

During this time the skeleton was carefully plastered and unearthed. The plaster stabilizes and protects the bones during excavation and transport.

By examining the matrix (material between the bones) scientists were able to determine that this mastodon probably died in a lake or wetland area.

The Exhibit

Once unearthed, the mastodon skeleton was displayed at the Oakland Museum of California from October 1999 to June of 2002. During museum hours, guests had the opportunity to talk with preparators and volunteers as they exposed the bones to prepare them to make casts and molds. They called this experiment “turning the museum inside out.”

The exhibit allowed guests to view some of the work involved with creating a museum exhibit. Guests were amazed at the mastodon’s size and the opportunity to see the bones up close and personal. Guests would compare the size of the bones to their bones. Children were fascinated to hear the story of its discovery and were excited by the fact that mastodons once lived in California. After seeing the bones and the volunteers working on them, many children declared that they would like to be paleontologists or archaeologists.

More Information

We have provided several video clips from the excavation site for even more information about this mastodon. The first clip is about 4 minutes long, and shows a bit of the process involved with excavating it. Bruce Hansen also discusses the significance of the find. Watch it below:

Click Here to View the Video!

The second clip is a bit longer, about 12 minutes in length. It features more detail about the mastodon, such as the discovery and Bruce Hansen discussing it a bit more in depth. Also shown are a few still images from the excavation site. Link below:

Click Here to View the Video!

Please note that this is a larger file, and may take a while to load. 56k users may have trouble viewing this file.


The mastodon skeleton is currently located in Sebastopol, CA about 30 minutes from our store in Petaluma, CA. All the bones are sealed in plaster on pallets, ready to be moved. The owner of this skeleton is willing to help deliver it within the continental United States for a nominal fee.

Please note that at this time, we do not know the weight of the pallets, so we can not give shipping quotes.


Please do not bid on this item if you do not intend to pay, or do not have the means to pay. All bids are subject to screening, and may be canceled at our discretion.

Thanks for checking it out, and updating us on what's going on with the auction Incorragable1! It sure sounds like it was quite a sight to see, and inspired quite a few children. And the auction ends tommorrow, i wonder who will be the buyer? But whoever it is, i hope they allow a museum to keep it on display since it's such a rare, and complete find!

No bids, and the auction closed. It's been re-listed, ebay auction #200210851015. Again, currently no bids.

Funny people will spend money on a corn flake shaped like a state but they wont buy a skeleton of an ancient elephant. Then again where would you put it?