In 2011, a 13-year-old fossil hunter on a beach near bluffs in Santa Cruz, California, happened across the find of a lifetime: the complete skull of an unknown 5-million-year-old walrus species encased in a giant boulder.
His discovery has now led to the identification of that ancient species of walrus, which scientists named after the 13-year-old in his honor in a recent paper published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
This remarkable discovery, made near the bluffs of Santa Cruz, has now yielded a significant scientific revelation. Researchers, after analyzing the skull for over a decade, have confirmed it belongs to a previously unidentified walrus species. To honor the young paleontology enthusiast’s contribution, they’ve named it Valenictus sheperdi, forever etching Sheperd’s name in the annals of natural history.
Sheperd, now pursuing his medical studies, recalls his passion for fossil hunting igniting at the tender age of 9. His dedication, evident in his frequent expeditions, led him to countless finds like shells, shark teeth, and whale bones. But the ancient walrus skull stands as his crown jewel, a testament to both his keen eye and the wonders hidden beneath our feet.
“I was just absolutely on fire and ecstatic about finding fossils,” he told.
“I had been fossil hunting enough to know what fossilized bone looks like,” he said.
“This fossil was found by a 13-year-old kid,” Robert Boessenecker, an expert in marine mammal fossils, told BI. “I think that’s really remarkable.
Ironically, Boessenecker used to comb the same beach, looking for fossils. “I’ve been going there since I was 15, so Forrest got luckier than I did,” he said.
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