Bone of extinct giant elephant goes on show at Chatteris Museum

Visitors to a Fenland museum have the chance to see the bone of what is believed to have been the world’s largest ever land mammal –a type of elephant – and it was found locally.

The bone of the Straight Tusked Elephant, or Palaeoxodon to give its more scientific name, is on display in the new acquisitions cabinet at Chatteris Museum.

It was donated at the end of last month.

About the size of a football, the bone is the upper part of the humerus or front leg of the mammal and is thought to be up to 40,000 years old.

It was discovered in a gravel workings site between Chatteris and Somersham.

Announcing the new acquisition on its Facebook page, the museum explained that it is well documented that woolly mammoths roamed the ancient Fenland landscape during and after the Ice Age.

The museum said: “The museum is very excited about receiving our latest donation, the upper part of the humerus bone with the ball joint to fit into the shoulder socket. This would be your upper arm and shoulder or, in the case of a Palaeoloxodon, the front leg. It is about the size of a football and estimated to be at least 40,000 – 20,000 years old but possibly older.

“This example was discovered during gravel workings between Chatteris and Somersham some years ago.”

The Palaeoxodon, which is a distant relative of the African elephant, would have stood at least four metres tall or around 13 feet – however, there have been other leg bones found elsewhere in the world belonging to beasts that were as much as 5.2 metres or 17 feet tall.

A male woolly mammoth would have stood at around 11 feet tall.

The bone is on display at the museum at 2 Park Street, now, and it is open 2pm to 4pm Thursdays, 10am to 1pm Fridays and 2pm to 4pm on Saturdays,