A potentially prehistoric horse tooth has been discovered in Cassiobury Park by a fossil-loving five-year-old.
Emily Louise’s daughter, Ayda, unearthed the find while walking along the park's river before it was put in a draw and forgotten about.
But after coming across it again this week, the Abbots Langley mum sought expert opinions on what it was.
In an email seen by the Watford Observer, one said it was a horse's cheek tooth, adding: "I'm not enough of an expert to know the particular species or age, but it definitely looks old, most likely Pleistocene (which is to say, from the past ~2.6 million years)."
Another agreed that it was a horse tooth, but said: "I don't think there [is] anything unusual about the roots compared to the many thousands of ice age teeth I have seen.
"A radiocarbon date would establish whether the tooth was younger than 50,000 years old but they are expensive.
"I suspect the tooth is much more likely to be a few hundred years old, at best, but it could be older."
Reflecting on the moment it was found, Emily said: “My first thought when Ayda brought it over was 'wow that looks old', and she said she had found dinosaur tooth as she is obsessed with dinosaurs and everything to do with them.
“I decided to ask for more information about the tooth as my daughter was very interested by it.”
The pastry chef added: “I am so proud of Ayda for finding this, she wants to be a palaeontologist when she is older."
The five-year-old found the tooth whilst looking around the waterfall for fish, rocks and other interesting bits of wildlife.
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The 33-year-old added: “She is always looking for things like this and I hope she still wants to be a palaeontologist when she is older as she could find even more things like this.”
The pair are waiting for other professors to give them an opinion so they can confirm exactly what the tooth is and where it is from, but Ayda is “very happy” with her find.
They contacted the Natural History Museum in London to see if they could find out anything else.
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