Turkey Hunter Stumbles Across 11,000+ Year Old Giant Sloth Skull In West Virginia

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Little did 36-year-old Kevin Adkins know that a simple hunting trip with his father-in-law on Mother’s Day, would lead to one of the rarest discoveries he’ll ever experience as a hunter.

According to Outdoor Life, Adkins and his father-in-law, Tony Hager, stumbled upon a giant sloth skull while hunting in West Virginia, which turned out to be at least 11,000 years old.

The Putnam County native recalled the day:

“We were running and gunning for toms. We’d worked a gobbler for about 30 minutes, then the bird moved off, so we picked up and headed up the creek.”

Adkins had hunted the area before, especially for turkeys, but it was his father-in-law’s first turkey hunt. And damn was it a memorable one.

They stumbled upon the massive skull in a creek:

“I looked down in the middle of the creek as we crossed it and saw a big blob of something I thought was a root ball, so I almost kicked it away.

But I noticed something different about it and looked closer. That’s when I saw some molar teeth, so I picked it up.”

He wiped some of the sand and mud off the 30-pound skull and set it aside so they could finish their hunt. The plan was to come back for it later.

So when they finally got back home, the only problem was… nobody knew what the hell it was.

After putting the photos online and busting out the trusty Google, Adkins father discovered it may be a giant ground sloth skull, which have been discovered previously in that area of West Virginia.

They contacted the West Virginia Geological survey office in Morgantown, which led them to Dr. Greg McDonald, who is widely known as “Dr. Sloth,” due to his vast knowledge of the creature.

Adkins said:

“Dr. McDonald verified that the skull I found is a ground sloth.

Scientifically it’s known as a ‘Megalonyx Jeffersoni’ and it lived from 5 million years ago up until 11,000 years ago.

It weighed over 2,000 pounds and was up to 10 feet long.”

Adkins is keeping the rare skull “in a safe place,” not sure what to do with it, but he may give it to a museum.

These things are WILD.

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