In something of a no-win situation for science a creationist fossil hunter is selling of a massive – and massively rare – fossil mastodon for tens of thousands of dollars. So either a valuable specimen disappears into private hands or public research money goes to a man whose museum proudly declares it is “Digging up the facts of God’s Creation: One fossil at a time.”

The fossil in question is a four-toothed mastodon head of a size never before uncovered – roughly a metre on each side. Opening bids must be at least $60,000. and online bids are now being taken. A floor auction is scheduled for 20 January in Dallas (auction page).

The mastodon is currently in the possession of the impressively bearded Joe Taylor, director and curator of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton, Texas, and “the world’s only creationist field palaeontologist”. His views are unorthodox enough that at first I thought his museum’s website was a spoof. For a start it provides the opportunity to purchase casts of ‘ancient Peruvian burial stones’ that prove humans and dinosaurs co-existed. Then there’s this:

We believe that evolution is an old-fashioned theory not substantiated by facts, and that what the Bible says is more scientifically accurate. Our museum shows that there was a worldwide flood only a few thousand years ago.

…

Q. Do you think Noah took dinosaurs on the ark?

A. Absolutely. We can show you why.

So how important is this fossil? The man behind the *Megalania1859 blog says only two other known mastodon fossils have the extra vestigial tusks, a hangover from “shovel-tusker” ancestors. It is, he says, “Truly a remarkable find.”

Sadly, as PZ Myers points out, “We can’t win this one. Even if it’s bought by a reputable museum and studied scientifically, it still means that this creationist is going to get a huge chunk of change to use in promoting more lies.”

Interestingly, according to the Help Joe Taylor website a previous disagreement over the ownership of a fossil find means he needs rather a lot of money.

Pictures of the beast and more on the Mt Blanco website.