The bones of the juvenile mastodon were delivered to the university in 2014 after being transported from the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium.
Mastodons are an extinct group of mammal species related to elephants.
Suzie’s skeleton — all 12 feet high and 16 feet long
The skeleton was discovered in the spring of 1969 when dragline operator Coot Vernor turned up some stones while digging a drainage canal south of Okeechobee Boulevard, about 2 miles west of Florida’s Turnpike.
A few days later, Charlie Wilkins, a 13-year-old boy who lived on a farm nearby, found more strange, brownstones. He took them home. Charlie’s parents realized they were ancient bones. They turned them over to scientists.
At the time, nobody was sure whether the skeleton was male or female. Johnny Cash’s song, “A Boy Named Sue,” was popular. So officials named the remains “Sue,” which through the years morphed affectionately into Suzie.
Suzie was a juvenile mastodon, a type of woolly mammoth that went extinct about 10,000 years ago. The grass-eating creatures roamed Florida and much of North America during Earth’s most recent Ice Age.
The College of Natural & Health Sciences has since adopted Suzie as its mascot and frequently uses the hashtag “Make Suzie Proud.”
“We are so grateful that Suzie is the centerpiece of our building,” said Aimee Franklin, dean of the College of Natural & Health Sciences at SEU. “We are so glad that when people come to visit she is the first thing that they see. It gives us the opportunity to introduce all of our guests to science.”
The public will be able to see Suzie in the lobby of the Natural & Health Sciences building. The building is open to the public between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. For more information about Suzie or coming to campus, email Dana Davis at [email protected] or call (863) 667-5020.