BLOOMFIELD HILLS – If you’ve ever paid a visit to Oakland Community College’s Highland Lakes campus, you’ve likely crossed paths with the school’s Groleau-White Lake Mastodon, lovingly nicknamed “Elmer.”
Beginning next week, Elmer the mastodon will migrate from the upper floors of Levinson Hall to the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills under a long-term loan agreement with OCC.
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“OCC has been proud to care for Elmer for nearly 50 years, and more people in our community, beyond our campus, should have the chance to experience him up close,” said Oakland Community College Chancellor Peter Provenzano, Jr. in a news release on Tuesday. “Cranbrook partnered with OCC in the early 1980s when Elmer was reconstructed, so it’s especially fitting that we share a vision for his future.”
After Elmer is carefully disassembled and transported to Cranbrook, crews from the institute will reconstruct and prepare the mastodon for public display as a centerpiece of future exhibition expected to open in summer 2027.
“Moving Elmer will be a very delicate undertaking,” said Cameron Wood, Cranbrook Institute of Science Curator of Collections. “His unique suspended mount will require the Institute’s team to proceed with great caution after reverse engineering how it was installed.”
The remains of hundreds of mastodons and about 30 mammoths have been found recovered in Michigan over the years, according to the University of Michigan.
Elmer was discovered on March 11, 1968, by Groleau Brothers, Inc. during construction work along M-59 between Elizabeth Lake and Williams Lake roads. About one-third of Elmer’s original bones were recovered, including the skull, ribs, vertebrae, scapulae, and large leg bones, with the remaining elements meticulously reconstructed usings casts and fiberglass.
Mastodons are believed to have roamed the state during the Pleistocene epoch, an ice age that lasted from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago. Researchers believe that the state’s plentiful sediment-filled lakes and rivers helped to preserve the skeletons of these massive, elephant-like mammals for centuries.
“Through this partnership, families, students and the community will be able to visit Cranbrook’s Institute of Science to see what once roamed our local area and gain a fuller understanding of their role in Oakland County’s prehistoric ecosystem,” Provenzano said, adding that OCC is already exploring joint programming opportunities with Cranbrook.
The upcoming exhibition will highlight the broader narrative of Michigan’s prehistoric past, Ice Age ecosystems, mastodon biology, and ongoing scientific research.
More details are expected to be announced in the spring of 2027.
For more information and to support Cranbrook Institute of Science’s crowdfunding campaign to help support Elmer’s preservation, visit https://science.cranbrook.edu/elmer.