In a surprising incident, a New York state resident found a complete mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard when he noticed two large teeth protruding from the ground. The discovery was in late September this year.

The mastodon jaw, along with some other bone parts were found in Scotchtown, a hamlet about 70 miles (112 kilometres) away from New York City, according to the New York State Museum.

There have been several discoveries of mastodon remains in the region Including a 13,000-year-old skeleton that was found in Hyde Park, New York in 2000. Mastodons, extinct elephant relatives, roamed the northeast region of the United States during the Pleistocene epoch.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/scientists-say-victims-of-the-somerset-massacre-were-cannibalised-in-bronze-age-784368">Scientists say victims of the Somerset massacre were 'cannibalised' in Bronze Age</a>

The owner of the house first thought that it was baseballs that he spotted, according to Robert Feranec, the state museum’s director of research and collections, according to news agency AP. “He picked them up and realized they were teeth.”

The researchers from the museum and the State University of New York’s Orange County campus visited the house and excavated a full, well-preserved jaw of an adult mastodon. A piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment were also found at the site, museum officials said.

“While the jaw is the star of the show, the additional toe and rib fragments offer valuable context and the potential for additional research,” said Cory Harris, chair of SUNY Orange’s behavioural sciences department. “We are also hoping to further explore the immediate area to see if there are any additional bones that were preserved.”

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While mammoths were known to eat grasses, mastodons were believed to consume twigs, leaves, and other parts of trees and shrubs using their large teeth to crush them.

According to the museum officials, this was the first complete mastodon jaw unearthed in New York over the last 11 years. Over 150 fossils of the extinct species have been found in the state, a third of them being discovered in Orange County, similar to the recent one.

The newly found jaw of the animal provides “a unique opportunity to study the ecology of this magnificent species, which will enhance our understanding of the Ice Age ecosystems from this region,” said Feranec.

Researchers are hoping to carbon-date and analyse the fossil to determine how old was the mastodon. They will also be working to discover the animal’s diet and habitat. The fossil remains are expected to be put on public display sometime next year, according to the museum.

(With inputs from agencies)

In a surprising incident, a New York state resident found a complete mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard when he noticed two large teeth protruding from the ground.

In a surprising incident, a New York state resident found a complete mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard when he noticed two large teeth protruding from the ground. The discovery was in late September this year. The mastodon jaw, along with some other bone parts were found in Scotchtown, a hamlet about 70 miles (112 kilometres) away from New York City, according to the New York State Museum. There have been several discoveries of mastodon remains in the region Including a 13,000-year-old skeleton that was found in Hyde Park, New York in 2000. Mastodons, extinct elephant relatives, roamed the northeast region of the United States during the Pleistocene epoch. Also read | Scientists say victims of the Somerset massacre were 'cannibalised' in Bronze Age The owner of the house first thought that it was baseballs that he spotted, according to Robert Feranec, the state museum’s director of research and collections, according to news agency AP. “He picked them up and realized they were teeth.” The researchers from the museum and the State University of New York’s Orange County campus visited the house and excavated a full, well-preserved jaw of an adult mastodon. A piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment were also found at the site, museum officials said. “While the jaw is the star of the show, the additional toe and rib fragments offer valuable context and the potential for additional research,” said Cory Harris, chair of SUNY Orange’s behavioural sciences department. “We are also hoping to further explore the immediate area to see if there are any additional bones that were preserved.” Also read | World's biggest trillion-tonne iceberg breaks free, drifts in Southern Ocean While mammoths were known to eat grasses, mastodons were believed to consume twigs, leaves, and other parts of trees and shrubs using their large teeth to crush them. According to the museum officials, this was the first complete mastodon jaw unearthed in New York over the last 11 years. Over 150 fossils of the extinct species have been found in the state, a third of them being discovered in Orange County, similar to the recent one. The newly found jaw of the animal provides “a unique opportunity to study the ecology of this magnificent species, which will enhance our understanding of the Ice Age ecosystems from this region,” said Feranec. Researchers are hoping to carbon-date and analyse the fossil to determine how old was the mastodon. They will also be working to discover the animal’s diet and habitat. The fossil remains are expected to be put on public display sometime next year, according to the museum. (With inputs from agencies)

New York man discovers complete mastodon jaw in his backyard

Since the Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the microblogging platform, people have jumped ship. Twitter users have turned to other social media platforms and seemingly one of the most popular ones, Mastodon, has emerged as the winner.&nbsp;Mastodon has been dubbed as an open-source, decentralised, or federated social network which allows users to construct their own networks or 'instances', this&nbsp;effectively gives them access and ownership of their data.&nbsp;The ad-free social media platform has also recently&nbsp;garnered some 2.5 million users.&nbsp;

“Mastodon has recently exploded in popularity, jumping from approx. 300K monthly active users to 2.5&nbsp;million between the months of October and November, with more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organisations moving over,” said the Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko&nbsp;on Tuesday. Notably, this amounts to more than 800 per cent of growth seen in recent months, the statement added.&nbsp;

ALSO READ&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mastodon-how-does-the-alternative-to-twitter-work-477593">Mastodon: How does the alternative to Twitter work?</a>

The success has consequently triggered “a land-grab for space on it from groups including browser makers, cryptocurrency advocates and other social networks”, said a report by the Guardian.&nbsp; 
 
Meanwhile, the browser maker of Firefox, Mozilla, said that it would start a Mastodon 'instance’, with the intention to contribute to the “healthy and sustainable growth of a federated social space that doesn’t just operate but thrives on its own terms, independent of profit- and control-motivated tech firms,” said Steve Teixeira, the chief product officer at Mozilla, as quoted by the Guardian.&nbsp;

Mozilla, which is also owned by a non-profit foundation, said that we are living through the consequences of two decades of&nbsp;“centralised, corporate-controlled social media, with a small oligopoly of large tech firms tightening their grip on the public square.” He added, “In private hands, our choice is limited, toxicity is rewarded, rage is called engagement, public trust is corroded, and basic human decency is often an afterthought.”&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/twitter-users-jump-to-mastodon-and-koo-what-are-these-social-media-platforms-531801">Twitter users jump ship to Mastodon and Koo. What are these social media platforms?</a> 
 
Meanwhile, Tumblr which was previously owned by Yahoo! and Verizon and was later sold to WordPress developers Automattic also witnessed a surge in the number of users and said that it will look into adding “interoperability and ActivityPub support as soon as possible.”&nbsp;

This is in reference to Mastodon, which also uses ActivityPub, enabling it to be compatible with a wide array of communities and allowing users to use photo sharing, podcasting and social networking all share content with each other.

This comes as the Twitterverse gets more and more chaotic, users have started posting links to other social media platforms in their posts which include outside platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Post and Truth Social, as well as third-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee and ink.bio.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/twitter-to-now-ban-users-from-posting-links-to-rival-platforms-544343">Twitter to now ban users from posting links to rival platforms</a>

This led Musk to briefly ban all links to other social media platforms and reportedly suspended user accounts who wrote their Mastodon usernames on Twitter. However, Musk in a recent interview admitted that the move was a bad idea.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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Since the Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the microblogging platform, people have jumped ship. Twitter users have turned to other social media platforms and seemingly one of the most popular ones, Mastodon, has emerged as the winner.

Since the Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the microblogging platform, people have jumped ship. Twitter users have turned to other social media platforms and seemingly one of the most popular ones, Mastodon, has emerged as the winner. Mastodon has been dubbed as an open-source, decentralised, or federated social network which allows users to construct their own networks or 'instances', this effectively gives them access and ownership of their data. The ad-free social media platform has also recently garnered some 2.5 million users. “Mastodon has recently exploded in popularity, jumping from approx. 300K monthly active users to 2.5 million between the months of October and November, with more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organisations moving over,” said the Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko on Tuesday. Notably, this amounts to more than 800 per cent of growth seen in recent months, the statement added. ALSO READ | Mastodon: How does the alternative to Twitter work? The success has consequently triggered “a land-grab for space on it from groups including browser makers, cryptocurrency advocates and other social networks”, said a report by the Guardian. Meanwhile, the browser maker of Firefox, Mozilla, said that it would start a Mastodon 'instance’, with the intention to contribute to the “healthy and sustainable growth of a federated social space that doesn’t just operate but thrives on its own terms, independent of profit- and control-motivated tech firms,” said Steve Teixeira, the chief product officer at Mozilla, as quoted by the Guardian. Mozilla, which is also owned by a non-profit foundation, said that we are living through the consequences of two decades of “centralised, corporate-controlled social media, with a small oligopoly of large tech firms tightening their grip on the public square.” He added, “In private hands, our choice is limited, toxicity is rewarded, rage is called engagement, public trust is corroded, and basic human decency is often an afterthought.” ALSO READ | Twitter users jump ship to Mastodon and Koo. What are these social media platforms? Meanwhile, Tumblr which was previously owned by Yahoo! and Verizon and was later sold to WordPress developers Automattic also witnessed a surge in the number of users and said that it will look into adding “interoperability and ActivityPub support as soon as possible.” This is in reference to Mastodon, which also uses ActivityPub, enabling it to be compatible with a wide array of communities and allowing users to use photo sharing, podcasting and social networking all share content with each other. This comes as the Twitterverse gets more and more chaotic, users have started posting links to other social media platforms in their posts which include outside platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Post and Truth Social, as well as third-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee and ink.bio. ALSO READ | Twitter to now ban users from posting links to rival platforms This led Musk to briefly ban all links to other social media platforms and reportedly suspended user accounts who wrote their Mastodon usernames on Twitter. However, Musk in a recent interview admitted that the move was a bad idea. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Firefox, Tumblr support Mastodon after Twitter briefly bans users from posting links to rival platforms

Social media alternatives if you are planning to quit Elon Musk's Twitter

Ever since billionaire Elon Musk formally took over Twitter, a big chunk of its users have jumped ship to other social media platforms. Mastodon and Koo have been the two platforms that have benefitted immensely.

Ever since billionaire Elon Musk formally took over Twitter, a big chunk of its users have jumped ship to other social media platforms. Mastodon and Koo have been the two platforms that have benefitted immensely. Reportedly, Mastodon, a decentralised, ad-free social networking platform has now amassed 655,000 users, with a monumental addition of 230,000 users taking place in the last few weeks alone. Founded nearly six years ago, Mastodon has a look and feel that is similar to Twitter but it is different in more ways than one. Unlike other social media platforms, Mastodon is not owned by a single entity or a company. It is decentralised, meaning, one can create private networks using servers for different countries. To get started with Mastodon, one has to visit Mastodon's Communities page and choose a community to join. Some instances allow anyone to join, while others require you to obtain an invitation to the server, which must be approved by an administrator. Read more: Mastodon: How does the alternative to Twitter work? However, one of the scathing criticism of Mastodon is that the moderators on the platform remove anyone who dares to show dissent against their ideology. The right-wingers have often accused the platform to be infiltrated by leftist moderators. While Mastodon is the global alternative, the Indian variety of Twitter, named Koo, is once again making waves. The Indian social media company last week said it had crossed 50 million downloads. The company added that it had witnessed a significant uptick in the time spent and engagement on the app. It is currently available in 10 languages. WATCH | Trending on WION: Elon Musk to enable trending option for all Twitter users × Like Twitter, Koo's logo is a bird, though yellow in colour. It allows users to use hashtags (#) or the "@" symbol for mentions. The app also allows users to 're-koo', Koo's version of a retweet and chat instead of a direct message. Koo was founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, both MBA or business management, graduates. The duo are also the founders of Vokal, an audio-video knowledge-sharing platform similar to Quora. Read more: Indian Twitter-like micro-blogging platform Koo witnesses surge in popularity As reported by WION, ever since Musk suggested that Twitter will be charging $8 for the blue check verification mark - several users across the board expressed their concerns. While many were planning to leave the platform after Musk's takeover, the announcement of paid subscription appeared to be the final straw. However, several reports have suggested that Musk has put the implementation of his paid subscription model on hold until after the US midterm elections. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

Twitter users jump ship to Mastodon and Koo. What are these social media platforms?

Following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition announcement, thousands of dissatisfied Twitter users are flocking to competitor social network 'Mastodon.'

The 'alternative social media network' apparently gained over 176,000 new users in the week following the news of the acquisition.&nbsp;

Mastodon, dubbed an open-source, distributed, or federated social network, allows users to construct their own networks or 'instances,' effectively giving them access and ownership of their data.&nbsp;

Each instance has its own content moderation, code of conduct, terms of service, and privacy policies, among other things.

Users can choose which instance they wish to be a part of based on whatever policies best match their expectations from the social networking platform.&nbsp;

However, even if you are a member of one instance, you can communicate with users from different instances.

This is meant to provide users the freedom to choose which instance's regulations they like while still giving them access to a larger social network.

Mastodon social is the service's main server, which is hosted by Mastodon gGmbH, a non-profit supported by Patreon donations.&nbsp;

However, there are other alternative servers to choose from.

Unless the other servers are filtered, limited, or suspended by the server you are on, joining one server usually allows you to speak with users from most other servers. A server may take these steps for a variety of reasons.

How does one become a Mastodon member?

Mastodon is generally free to use. To get started with Mastodon, go to Mastodon's Communities page and choose a community to join. Some instances allow anyone to join, while others require you to obtain an invitation to the server, which must be approved by an administrator.&nbsp;

Mastodon social is now the most popular instance, but there are many more to select from that specialise on other types of topic matter (for example, technology or gaming) or geographical interests.

Click "Request Invite" or "Join" when you find the one you wish to join.&nbsp;

Then create a username and password using your email address.&nbsp;

You may log in to the instance's domain name after confirming your email and receiving any necessary approval from the instance's administrators, and you'll be microblogging in no time.

Following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition announcement, thousands of dissatisfied Twitter users are flocking to competitor social network 'Mastodon.' The 'alternative social media network' apparently gained over 176,000 new users in the week following the news of the acquisition.

Following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition announcement, thousands of dissatisfied Twitter users are flocking to competitor social network 'Mastodon.' The 'alternative social media network' apparently gained over 176,000 new users in the week following the news of the acquisition. Mastodon, dubbed an open-source, distributed, or federated social network, allows users to construct their own networks or 'instances,' effectively giving them access and ownership of their data. Each instance has its own content moderation, code of conduct, terms of service, and privacy policies, among other things. Users can choose which instance they wish to be a part of based on whatever policies best match their expectations from the social networking platform. However, even if you are a member of one instance, you can communicate with users from different instances. This is meant to provide users the freedom to choose which instance's regulations they like while still giving them access to a larger social network. Mastodon social is the service's main server, which is hosted by Mastodon gGmbH, a non-profit supported by Patreon donations. However, there are other alternative servers to choose from. Unless the other servers are filtered, limited, or suspended by the server you are on, joining one server usually allows you to speak with users from most other servers. A server may take these steps for a variety of reasons. How does one become a Mastodon member? Mastodon is generally free to use. To get started with Mastodon, go to Mastodon's Communities page and choose a community to join. Some instances allow anyone to join, while others require you to obtain an invitation to the server, which must be approved by an administrator. Mastodon social is now the most popular instance, but there are many more to select from that specialise on other types of topic matter (for example, technology or gaming) or geographical interests. Click "Request Invite" or "Join" when you find the one you wish to join. Then create a username and password using your email address. You may log in to the instance's domain name after confirming your email and receiving any necessary approval from the instance's administrators, and you'll be microblogging in no time.

Mastodon: How does the alternative to Twitter work?

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