Man in Idaho Finds Rare Mammoth Tusk in His Backyard Dating Centuries

— -- An Idaho man made a shocking discovery last month after he dug up a Colombian mammoth tusk that is believed to be at least 12,000 years old.

Kasey Keller of Franklin, Idaho, told ABC News that he noticed the tusk after digging a gravel pit with a backhoe next to the automotive shop he owns.

"At first I thought it was a pipe," Keller said. "Then, my instinct was, 'This is a mammoth bone.' I enjoyed prehistoric history as a kid and still do today. It was a unique thing."

Keller, 34, called paleontologists at Utah State University to investigate the 3-foot long bone, which they confirmed to be from a Colombian mammoth -- an extinct species that reached 13 feet and up to 22,000 pounds.

Paleontologists at Utah State University and Brigham Young University estimate the tusk to be anywhere from 12,000 to 150,000 years old.

"They never found anything like this in this valley," Keller said. "The paleontologist from USU told me the odds were like finding a pin a haystack."

Keller's 9-year-old twin boys Peyton and Krew also dug up pieces of the mammoth tusk.

"They love dinosaurs, so I showed them and they were on cloud 9," Keller said. "They couldn't believe it was a fossil."

The tusk is currently being preserved at Brigham Young University.

Keller plans on loaning the tusk to a museum for display.

“If someone else found it, I’d be interested in seeing it,” he said. “It’s a piece of history.”