Mysterious deer fossil unearthed close to TTC station recognized after virtually 50 years

For practically 50 years, a mysterious fossil unearthed through the building of Islington subway station has refused to surrender its secrets and techniques — till now.

A research by Trent University, in partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Alberta Museum, has discovered a hyperlink between the fossil and two deer species discovered throughout North America.

“The more analysis we did, it became clear it was most closely related to whitetail and mule deer, but likely a distinct species that diverged around 3,000,000 years ago,” stated Aaron Schafer, an affiliate professor at Trent University, who labored on the research.

The fossil, dubbed by scientists as Torontoceros hypogaeus or “horned Toronto deer from underground,” is believed to be certainly one of a sort and virtually 12,000 years outdated. And it is serving to to supply a snapshot into what life appeared like again then.

“It looks like it was adapted for a wider, more open space than the forested area you would have seen in the past few hundred years,” stated Oliver Haddrath, a collections technician on the Royal Ontario Museum. “It would have been much more tundra-like, which probably shaped this deer.” 

Moving ahead, Schafer stated researchers want to higher perceive what led to the species’ extinction.

“We know climate was involved, and maybe it was a very small population that started to accumulate a lot of bad things in its DNA and couldn’t adapt,” he said.

The fossil has been in the ROM’s possession since its discovery, but Haddrath said the main roadblock in identifying its origin was that technology hadn’t caught up yet.

“Having this DNA lab allows us to answer questions we previously thought were unanswerable … looking at samples that are thousands of years old and fitting them into their family tree,” stated Haddrath.

The gallery that homes the fossil on the ROM is presently beneath renovation, however as soon as it reopens, Torontoceros hypogaeus will likely be on show for all to see.