PINT-SIZED PALEONTOLOGIST: 3-year-old discovers woolly mammoth tooth in Florida pond

PALM BAY, Florida (KTRK) -- A toddler in Florida will have quite a story to tell for years to come about his mammoth find.

Colt Couch, 3, found a woolly mammoth tooth last weekend alongside a retention pond in Palm Bay.

Colt lives with his parents and two brothers in Florida, but his grandparents, Monte and Cheri Brigance, who are from Livingston, Texas, were visiting when he made the discovery.

He was with his grandfather when he was skipping rocks in the pond and spotted the tooth, but couldn't pull it up.

They cleaned the tooth and decided to hold onto it.

Monte and Cheri told ABC13 they had the partial Columbian Mammoth tooth authenticated by Dr. Richard C. Hulbert Jr., who is the Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager at The Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

"We are still trying to decide if we want to convert the tooth into college funds for Colt or keep it for him until he is old enough to appreciate it," the family said.

They say Colt also got a kick out of seeing him and his beloved Paw-Paw on ABC13, as they showed off the unique tooth.

The family explained that the tooth had been partially exposed for the last three years that they had been visiting Florida.

"We had just never examined it until Colt wanted it, so the pint-sized paleontologist was definitely the reason for this discovery," Monte and Cheri said.

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