- Jack Wonfor, 23, found the 115-million-year-old specimen on the Isle of Wight
- The epicheloniceras ammonite is believed to weigh at least 24 stones
It’s not the usual kind of beach find where you skim into the waves or throw it in a bucket.
And despite weighing at least 24 stone, fossil hunter Jack Wonfor had no intention of leaving this 115-million-year-old specimen in the gravel.
The 23-year-old found the enormous epicheloniceras ammonite, a huge shelled creature the size of a car wheel, on the Isle of Wight.
He was so heavy that it took a week of effort — including using a scaffolding pole and rope, and rolling him up like a tire — to transport him nearly a mile back to his car on the island’s southwest coast.
The fossil guide isn’t actually sure how much it weighs, as the gigantic discovery exceeded the 24 stone limit on his scales.
Fossil hunter Jack Wonfor wouldn’t leave this 115-million-year-old specimen in the gravel
He was so heavy that it took a week of effort — including using a scaffolding pole and rope, and rolling him up like a tire — to transport him nearly a mile back to his car on the island’s southwest coast.
Mr Wonfor, who has been hunting fossils since he was four, said this was his “best find yet” after unearthing the sample from a fallen log.
“I was fossil hunting with my friend when I saw this print in the rock,” he said. “I thought, ‘That’s annoying, the ammonite is gone.'” But then Mr. Wonfor spotted an exposed edge — and he spent the next six hours chiseling it into a more movable weight.
He explained, “I knew it was going to be big, but it just kept spinning around as I chiseled it out. It was a really cool feeling.”
Mr Wonfor will pry away the surrounding rock to reveal the rest of the fossil before donating it to the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown. Ammonites are extinct marine animals and belong to the mollusk family.