Seattle’s prehistoric mammoth gets name

The prehistoric mammoth whose tusk was recently unearthed in a Seattle construction site got a name Friday night. Judges had over 1,000 to choose from, and they landed on “Lulu.”

With so much buzz around town ever since crews first discovered the tusk in February in South Lake Union, the Burke Museum launched a contest to name the approximately 20,000 year old mammoth.

On their Facebook page they wrote, “The Seattle mammoth has a name! The judges narrowed it down to two top entries: “Lucky” because the tusk was a very lucky find after more than 20,000 years, and “Lu” because the tusk was found near Lake Union. The final name chosen for the mammoth is a combination of the two: LuLu!”

Many of the entries were Seahawks-themed, not surprising given the team’s Super Bowl title just before the tusk was discovered, says Burke Museum spokesperson Alaina Smith.

“There were some really funny Seahawks-related entries as well as plenty of other clever puns,” Smith says.

Some of those puns include Tuskel-Wilson, Beast Bone, Sir Digs a Lot and Seattle-upagus.

The winner was chosen by a panel of four that includes KING 5 anchor Lori Matsukawa, Burke Museum Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Christian Sidor, Matt Elly, AMLI Residential Senior Development Associate and the Seattle Mammoth itself – or at least its Twitter account.

The attention surrounding the discovery has been a boon for the museum, which will continue to display the tusk at its ‘Imagine That’ exhibit April 12 – October 26, 2014.

“More importantly, we think it’s great for the community,” Smith says. “It’s such an exciting find and what we’re really happy with and proud of is that so many people have been able to participate.”