Fruita paleontologist and artist re-creating one of the largest mastodons ever found

In a Fruita workshop, a massive beast is taking shape that will one day dominate Base Village.

Modeled on the fossils of a huge male mastodon pulled from the mud of Ziegler Reservoir in 2010 and early 2011, Rob Gaston, a paleontologist and artist, and his staff are painstakingly creating a replica skeleton that he said will be nearly indistinguishable from the animal’s real bones. The mastodon and scores of others likely lumbered down to the shore of a small glacial lake some 10,000 or so years ago, only to become fatally mired in mud, scientists have hypothesized. Continue Reading