proximately 10 feet tall at the shoulder and weighed about 

 six tons, with 8-foot tusks. His appearance was generally 

 that of a very large, stocky elephant. His fossil remains 

 were discovered in 1960 in a bog in Medaryville, Indiana, 

 by an excavator working on property owned by K. H. 

 Hiippert of Chicago. Mr. Hiippert contacted Dr. Rainer 

 Zangerl, Chief Curator of Geology, who, along with Dr. 

 William TiirnbuU, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals, 

 went to the site and inspected the bones which had been 

 removed from the bog with a power dredge. 



For seven years, "Joseph's" bones, covered with dried 

 mud, roots and burlap bags, were stored in the Museum 

 before they were brought to the laboratory for cleaning 

 and repair. The skeleton is very well preserved and has 

 been restored into an excellent study specimen. 



"Joseph" lived to be very old and suffered from several 

 infirmities of old age. He carried the additional burden 

 of dental trouble. 



In the lower right mandible, there is the malformed 

 stump of a molar which indicates a once painfully draining 

 abcessed tooth. {See photo, A.) He also has a large cavity in 

 his first lower left molar. Both left molars are very flat 

 and worn down in contrast to the relatively unused teeth 

 in the right mandible. The worn teeth on the left indicate 

 he favored that side for chewing to avoid biting down on 

 the abcessed tooth. It was the excessive wear that weakened 

 the first left molar, leaving it susceptible to decay. 



At some point in "Joseph's" life, a two-foot portion of 

 on tusk had been broken off, exposing the pulp cavity. 

 This healed and the end of the tusk was worn smooth 

 before he died. 



"Joseph's" jaws showed more than bad teeth. On the 

 surfaces of the mandibular condyles (the part of the jaw 

 that joins to the skull), especially the left, are heavy, rough, 

 pitted calcium deposits, diagnosed as evidence of chronic 

 arthritis. The heaviest calcium deposit is on the right glen- 

 oid fossa (on the skull at its juncture with the jaw). {See 

 photo.) With these multiple handicaps, eating must have 

 been difficult for this huge animal. 



Evidence of arthritis is also present in the condyles at 

 the base of the skull and the processes on the neck vertebra 

 which show enough calcium deposits to indicate he could 

 scarcely turn his extremely heavy skull from side to side. 

 The sajyiie type of calcium deposits are found in the rest of 

 the vertebral column and the heads of the ribs as well. 



Supporting his own body weight mvist have been another 

 painful experience as the articulatory (moving joint) sur- 

 faces of his limbs were also arthritic. His movement was 

 probably very slow and restricted because of the swollen, 

 stiff joints. This lack of mobility may well have caused the 

 death of this aged mastodon since it is likely that he died 

 in the bog where his bones were found. 



"Joseph" was a member of a former giant "race" that 

 left no direct descendents. The modern elephants of Af- 

 rica and India are related to the mammoth {Mammuthus 

 primigenius), a contemporary of the mastodon and an ani- 

 mal very similar in appearance. 



The large lighter area in the center of the photo is a calcium de- 

 posit on the right glenoid fossa, emdence that arthritis was present 

 where rear portion of the jaw joined the skull. The rough, pitied 

 area is similar to calcium deposits found on articulatory {moving 

 joint) surfaces throughoiit "Joseph's" skeleton. He suffered from 

 extensive arthritis. 



Malformed stump of abcessed molar (A) shows extensive damage. 

 Molar above (B) is intact except for a large cavity (dark area). 

 The complete tooth measured about 5 inches long by 21^ inches 

 wide. 



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