OCEANSIDE — Millions of years ago, ancient beasts roamed Earth and called present-day Oceanside home.
And thanks to Joe El Adli, a principal paleontologist at Helix Environmental Planning, and a city infrastructure project, evidence has surfaced in the form of fossilized remains of a large, hoofed mammal recently discovered on Aug. 31. Based on the surrounding rock and organisms found within the fossil, paleontologists estimated the remains are between 40 million and 45 million years old.
The remains include several limb bones, ribs and other bones and fragments found 12 feet below the surface during excavation. El Adli and his team worked the following seven days to reveal the fossils and then placed the relics in a plaster field jacket for safety and transported them to an off-site laboratory, according to the city.
