Brothers discover 'mammoth' fossil on Isle of Wight beach

Last Wednesday, Luke and Joe Ferguson discovered a giant piece of fossilised bone.

It is believed to be from an elephant or mammoth.

The pair, who have been collecting fossils since childhood, found it on the south-west coast of the Island, near Brighstone Beach.

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The giant fossil Luke and Joe Ferguson found on the beach.

"We fossil hunt pretty much every day," said Joe.

"Our mum brought us up doing it since we were kids. We have a bit of museum in our house."

Some of the many fossils in Luke and Joe Ferguson's home museum.

The pair spoke to Dr Martin Munt of Dinosaur Isle in Sandown, who told them it appeared to be a humerus from a straight-tusked elephant, or possibly a mammoth.He said it could be anything between 30,000 and 125,000 years old.

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"A straight-tusked elephant could be even rarer than anything else," said Joe.

"It's the biggest elephant ever recorded.

"This definitely ranks at the top of our discoveries. It's insane how huge it is.

"It's more than three-foot long and probably weighs about 30 kilograms.

"It was a bit of a job getting it off the beach and into the back of the car.

"We're just preserving it now. We're going to dry it out slowly.

"We normally do that for delicate fossils, but it actually isn't very brittle at all. It's in really good condition.

"Our mum couldn't believe it. She's been waiting to find something like this her whole life. It's the find of a lifetime, really.

"It was half hanging out of some stones following some cliff fall, you couldn't miss it. It was definitely displaced during the bad weather.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew it was a fossil ­— definitely a leg ­— straight away.

"We've been going down there every day since looking for more. We go out when the tides are right."

The brothers have to wait until lockdown ends before they can have the fossil properly identified.