During a November dig in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, paleontologists Rick Olson and Rick Toomey made a rare discovery.
They found a fossil of a shark head that was more than 300 million years old — an ancient species called Saivodus striatus that resembles the great white shark in size, according to the New York Post. The discovery marked the first time any presence of sharks had been documented in the area.
The National Park Service is not sharing the location within the cave that the shark fossils were found, as it has experienced fossil theft and vandalism in previous years, USA Today reported.
An Instagram account associated with Mammoth Cave National Park shared photos of the fossils.
Shark fossils, with the exception of teeth, are hard to find because shark skeletons are made of cartilage, which usually decomposes before it can be fossilized, Newsweek reported.
Since the discovery, some members of the original digging team, as well as other paleontologists, have returned to the site. According to CNET, they have found more than 100 additional fossil specimens.