Saber Tooth Tiger bone found in Summerfield Park

APRIL FOOLS’ — A  Lakewood Ranch woman has found what scientists have identified as the thigh bone of a saber-toothed tiger, a well-known carnivorous predator that went extinct as a species about 11,000 years ago.

This particular species, called Smilodon, is believed to have lived in the southeastern United States for at least 5 million years. Scientists estimate this particular fossil to be 3 million years old.

Carolyn Lowry-Nation, a Lakewood Ranch resident and leader of the Gardeners Out East Club, dug up the bone while working in the butterfly garden at Summerfield Park.

“We pulled up a big bush and started digging, when my shovel hit something large,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it was a bone that big. I took it to USF for evaluation right away.”

USF officials turned the bone over to the state’s archeological department on Monday.

The Smilodon bone is the first found in the Sarasota/Manatee area, although scientists found the jaw bone of a Smilodon in March 2013 in nearby Polk County.

Since Lowry-Nation’s discovery March 25, the state of Florida has staked its claim, notifying Lakewood Ranch officials it plans to seize select properties in Summerfield Park, as well as the Summerfield Information Center, through eminent domain so that it can excavate the property for more bones.

“A finding like this is so rare. We need this property so we can piece together more about the lives of saber-toothed cats in Florida millions of years ago,” said University of South Florida archaeologist Dr. Prious Toric.

Eminent domain proceedings dictate that government pay for property being taken, but the state said because the park already is public property it can take the park site without compensation.

It will pay for the information center parcel, but no amount has been offered. The spokesman said the state hopes its owner, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, will donate the property because it’s for the public’s good.

State officials said the bone will go on tour around the state before being placed at the South Florida Museum in August.

“We like to return bones to the areas in which they were found,” the official said. “Plus, the South Florida Museum already has a dinosaur.”

Individual homeowners will be contacted if their property is to be seized. They will be given 60 days to find a new residence and move.