page_title: Organ Cave
section_title: Jefferson's ground sloth
hierarchical_section_title: Organ Cave / Jefferson's ground sloth
caption_attribution_description: English: The certificate that states that the Megalonyx jeffersonii is the official West Virginia State Fossil and was found inside of Organ Cave.
context_page_description: Organ Cave is a large and historic cave in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, USA. The surrounding community takes its name from the cave.
  In 1973, the Organ Cave System—also known as the Organ–Hedricks Cave System—was registered as a National Natural Landmark for being "the largest cave system in the State, containing many caves, one of which is Organ Cave. Noted also for its saltpeter troughs and vats." Organ Cave has also been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005.
context_section_description: Formerly, a famous fossil discovery—that of Thomas Jefferson's giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii)—had been assumed to have come originally from Organ Cave. Jefferson never visited the area, but received the fossil from a local friend in 1796. In the early 20th century, a local man, Andrew Price of Marlinton, decided that the fossil had come from Organ Cave and popularized his theory. In 1995, however, Smithsonian paleontologist Frederick Grady proposed that Haynes Cave in nearby Monroe County was the true source. (His reasons had to do with historical land-ownership records.)
   In 2008, the governor of West Virginia held a ceremony at Organ Cave to present the owner with a certificate stating that M. jeffersoni was the "Official West Virginia State Fossil" and repeated the assertion that it was indeed found in Organ Cave, but without producing any new evidence.
caption: Certificate stating that M. jeffersonii is the "Official West Virginia State Fossil" and was "thought to have been found" in Organ Cave. (It contains the additional error of referring to the "three-toed sloth" rather than Jefferson's giant ground sloth.)
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