What to call the mammoth whose tusk surfaced in South Lake Union last month?
Starting Saturday, the Burke Museum will take public suggestions to name the prehistoric mammal the tusk once belonged to. Ideas can be submitted in person at the museum where the tusk will be on display, or online at seattlemammoth.org.
Visitors can see the tusk on March 8 during the museum's Dino Day festivities, then again during the last three weekends of the month as long as it remains drying properly. The 8½ feet-long piece will remain inside its plaster jacket, however, to ensure it doesn’t get damaged.
Workers with Transit Plumbing were excavating a construction site last month when they hit something hard and uncovered the tusk. Owner Jeff Estep says they stopped work and called the experts.
The Columbian mammoth tusk is believed to be the biggest and the most intact ever found in Seattle. Similar tusks and mammoth teeth found in Washington have made the Columbian mammoth the state fossil.
