Retired Dutch Engineer Discovers Rare Woolly Rhino Fossil on Rotterdam Beach

In November 2025, a retired Dutch engineer named Cock van den Berg made an exciting discovery on a beach in Rotterdam, Netherlands. After scouring the shore for hours, van den Berg found a polished black stone about the size of an acorn with two punctures, which an expert later identified as a molar from a woolly rhinoceros.

The fossil dates back to a time when the area around Rotterdam was home to a diverse array of Pleistocene megafauna, including hippos, straight-tusked elephants, and other giant creatures that roamed the region between 126,000 and 116,000 years ago. This stretch of beach, known as Maasvlakte 2, has become a popular destination for amateur paleontologists, or "citizen scientists," who collaborate with researchers to study and preserve these important fossil finds.

According to Isaak Eijkelboom, a Ph.D. student in paleontology at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Netherlands' open and permissive approach to fossil collecting has allowed these citizen scientists to play a vital role in expanding the museum's fossil database, which now includes over 23,000 specimens. By sharing their discoveries with scientists, these enthusiastic beachcombers are helping to uncover the secrets of the region's prehistoric past.