Though it hasn’t enrolled in classes, Cal State Fullerton’s newest denizen has made a home in the Titan Student Union.

Its name: the Fully Mammoth. Its look: beige bones and long curved tusks. Its age: about 20,000 years.

The fossilized woolly mammoth skeleton was donated to the school by geologist John Gregg, who heads Signal Hill-based Gregg Drilling & Testing Inc.

John Gregg posed for a portrait after delivering a speech at a ceremony in which the Gregg Family Foundation donated a skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth to the Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth is now on display at the Cal State Fullerton Student Union. John Gregg of Gregg Family Foundation donated the fossil to CSUF during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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A skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth is now on display at the Cal State Fullerton Student Union. John Gregg of Gregg Family Foundation donated the fossil to CSUF during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Abel Stone, right, and Tim Hyde look at a giant wooly mammoth skeleton at the Cal State Fullerton Student Union. The Gregg Family Foundation donated the fossil to CSUF on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

John Gregg delivers a speech during a ceremony in which he donated the skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth to Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. The fossil is now on display at the Student Union. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth is now on display at the Cal State Fullerton Student Union. John Gregg of Gregg Family Foundation donated the fossil to CSUF on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A skeleton of an extinct giant wooly mammoth is now on display at the Cal State Fullerton Student Union. John Gregg of Gregg Family Foundation donated the fossil to CSUF on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The 24-foot-long mammoth, which stands on a pedestal behind a low glass wall in the student union’s atrium, was feted on Wednesday, Nov. 29, with hors d’oeuvres and commemorative silver pins stamped with its likeness.

Gregg bought the fossil after it was discovered in Western Siberia about 15 years ago. The bones sat, unassembled, in storage until he found the right place to display it.

In October, Gregg helped build the skeleton, a two-day job.

“Everything was fine until at the very last minute, we dropped the jaw and it broke into a million pieces” that had to be glued back together, he said.

Cal State Fullerton Associate Professor James Parham, a paleontologist who worked on the mammoth project, was thrilled with Gregg’s donation.

It’s a fitting addition to the university because before the species became extinct about 10,000 years ago, the woolly mammoth’s close relative, the Columbian mammoth, lived in what is now Orange County, Parham said. The ancient mammoths were quite similar to the modern Asian elephant – and the school’s mascot, Tuffy the Titan, is an elephant.

“I think we can assume that elephants were walking across campus for thousands of years,” Parham said.

Visitors who see the fossil may be inspired to think about extinction, climate change or elephant conservation, he said, adding, “It’s inspired me to start a research program into (local) fossil elephants.” Evidence of mammoths has been found at more than a dozen sites in Orange County.

Jared Hill, a public administration major who chairs the school’s student government, said the “Fully Mammoth” name was chosen by a 53 percent majority in an online poll.

The fossil can be seen, including by the public, whenever the student union is open, and some students are glad to have it there.

“I thought it was pretty cool, because it kind of looks like Tuffy,” sociology major Damoira Chung said.

Visit the mammoth

What: A 20,000-year-old woolly mammoth skeleton is on public display at Cal State Fullerton.

Where: The Titan Student Union, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton

When: 7 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m. to midnight Sundays.

Information: 657-278-2468