But acquiring the mastodon tooth was not easy. After he saw the Facebook post, Thompson raced to the beach on Friday, but the tooth was gone. “We were on pins and needles,” he said.

It was a mastodon tooth, right in the same area where we know mastodons lived in Santa Cruz County,” Thompson told KRON 4. Photos of the tooth circulated on social media on May 26.

A mastodon tooth stands upright in the sand at an Aptos, California, beach. A woman taking a stroll on the beach discovered the mastodon tooth that's at least 5,000 years old. (Jennifer Schuh via AP) ...

This May 26, 2023, photo provided by the Jennifer Schuh shows a Mastodon Tooth in the sand at an Aptos, Calif., beach. On Tuesday, Jim Smith of nearby Aptos called the museum.

This May 26, 2023, photo provided by the Jennifer Schuh shows a Mastodon Tooth in the sand at an Aptos, Calif., beach. On Tuesday, Jim Smith of nearby Aptos called the museum.

This May 26, 2023, photo provided by the Jennifer Schuh shows a Mastodon Tooth in the sand at an Aptos, Calif., beach. (Jennifer Schuh via AP) ...

A mastodon tooth washed up on a California beach and then went missing. A local museum tried to track it down. It's pretty common to find seashells or coral on the beach. Outside Santa Cruz, Calif ...

Ancient mastodon tooth seen, lost, then found again on California beach By Andrew Chamings, Editor-at-Large June 1, 2023 ...

A verified mastodon tooth was found by 6-year-old Julian Gagnon of Grosse Pointe Woods, who then donated it to the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. The scientists there verified its ...

But for 6-year-old Julian Gagnon, finding a 12,000-year-old mastodon tooth in Michigan was the highlight of his walk back in early September. He was out with his parents at Dinosaur Hill Nature ...

A verified mastodon tooth was found by 6-year-old Julian Gagnon of Grosse Pointe Woods, who then donated it to the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology.