McDonald verified that the skull belonged to Megalonyx jeffersonii, Adkins secured his find “in a safe place.” While he’s still uncertain of what to do next, thorough carbon dating or a potential donation to a regional museum are options currently on the table.Īs Adkins humbly put it, “It’s a pretty cool find for a turkey hunter.”Īfter reading about the giant sloth skull found in West Virginia, learn about the first evidence of giant sloths being omnivores. The scientific community named the species Megalonyx jeffersonii in his honor when additional bones were unearthed in 1799, according to the West Virginia State Museum of Education.Īfter Dr. He thus christened it Megalonyx, or “Great Claw,” but he realized his mistake after finding an old engraving of a sloth skeleton while preparing to write a study for the American Philosophical Society. “So many have been discovered in West Virginia over the years that ground sloths were named the ‘State Fossil’ in 2008.”Īccording to Live Science, the first evidence of Megalonyx jeffersonii was discovered in a Monroe County, West Virginia cave in 1797 by a friend of Thomas Jefferson’s, who then sent the bones to the future president.įascinated by fossils, Jefferson believed the bones belonged to a large lion. It weighed over 2,000 pounds and was up to 10 feet long.”Īdkins was eager to find out more about his find. “Scientifically it’s known as a Megalonyx jeffersonii and it lived from five million years ago up until 11,000 years ago. McDonald verified that the skull I found is a ground sloth,” said Adkins. Greg McDonald, who is so renowned for his knowledge of the prehistoric species that many simply refer to him as “Dr. That really got things moving along with trying to ID what I’d found.”įacebook/Elizabeth Adkins The skull weighs 30 pounds and is at least 11,000 years old.Īfter contacting the West Virginia Geological Survey office in Morgantown, Adkins spoke with numerous paleontologists and university researchers about the find.
“That’s when we started searching the internet, sending photos to family and friends, and then I posted it on social media. “But my father-in-law said no, it was something very different,” continued Adkins. Its jawbone had four molar teeth on either side. The skull weighed about 30 pounds and sported tufts of hair.
“ thought it was a cow skull because it was so big,” Adkins said. When he and Hager concluded their hunt later that morning, they retrieved the skull and carried it home. “That’s when I saw some molar teeth, so I picked it up.”ĭetermined not to let the potential find of a lifetime distract from his turkey hunt, Adkins propped the skull next to the creek and forged ahead. “But I noticed something different about it and looked closer,” Adkins went on. I looked down in the middle of the creek as we crossed it and saw a big blob of something I thought was a root ball, so I almost kicked it away.” “We’d worked a gobbler for about 30 minutes, then the bird moved off, so we picked up and headed up the creek. “We were running and gunning for toms,” Adkins told Outdoor Life.
Trudging through the muddy wilderness, the Red House resident and his father-in-law were primarily interested in nabbing some wild birds when they encountered the relic. While 36-year-old Adkins had hunted turkeys in Putnam County plenty of times before, he had never come across something like this. Facebook/Kevin Adkins Kevin Adkins found the giant sloth skull while turkey hunting in Putnam County, West Virginia.