A 3.6-million-year-old third toe from the hoof of a tapir found in southern Slovakia. (source: Marcela Ballová)
In the past, he discovered two sapphires in a quarry above the Kostná Dolina valley in the south of Slovakia. Recently, amateur mineralogist Ladislav Oravec came across a more unique find.
"I was immediately intrigued by the strange ivory-coloured porous object," he told My Novohrad, The Slovak Spectator's sister publication.
In a location near Hajnáčka and Gemerský Jablonec, he found a 3.6-million-year-old third toe from the hoof of a tapir that once lived in this area. The tapir died during volcanic activity.
Oravec will not keep his exceptional find to himself. He will donate it to the museum in Fiľakovo.
Tapir. (source: Wikimedia)
Kostná Dolina has been a protected site since 1994. The valley was named after the mass occurrence of vertebrate bones discovered in 1812. The fossil remains of various animals were found in the valley: hyenas, bears, pandas, tapirs, rhinos to mastodons.
Millions of years ago, the foraging fauna resembled today's fauna in Southeast Asia. Its extinction was probably caused by the eruption of one volcano.
Plants over three million years old were also discovered here.
