Brilliant beagle sniffs out a 250,000 woolly rhino bone

A super sniffing beagle has discovered a bone from a woolly rhino, that died over 250,000 years ago.

Four year old Crystal has worked with her palaeontologist owner Jamie Jordan, 29, to find fossils and remains of the oldest creatures on the planet.

Mr Jordan, of Peterborough, said: "We got Crystal originally as a companion, we chose a beagle because I've always wanted a hound."

Rather than just take Crystal for walks however, Mr Jordan was inspired by the legendary palaeontologist Mary Anning to train his dog to seek out ancient artefacts. Victorian fossil hunter Anning would take her dog to the Jurassic coast in Dorset in search of all sorts.

Mr Jordan started off getting Crystal to smell out bones from the Ice Age, which are said to have an organic, pungent and clay-like smell. When out on a dig Crystal's owner will let her sniff a piece of bone to pick up a scent and she'll hunt out as many fossils as she can.

Once trained, Crystal made the find of a lifetime when she dug up a huge leg bone of a woolly rhino — dubbed Stompy — that is believed to have died a quarter of a million years ago.

Every time the pooch comes back with a prehistoric prize, Mr Jordan gives her a treat, making the entire search entirely worthwhile for the talented tail-wagger.

Mr Jordan told the Metro: "If they're on the surface she'll sniff it out and howl to alert us, but if the bone is underground Crystal will just dig down."