Buddhist devotees were shocked after clearing a late monk's belongings and finding pre-historic fossils from extinct elephants.<br /><br />The abbot, named Damrong Chotimanto, passed away last Wednesday (January 22) and left his vast antique collection in his room in the temple in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast Thailand.<br /><br />The late monk's followers turned up last Thursday (January 30) to clear the building as part of a ritual and they were stunned to find a gruesome collection of rare, pre-historic fossils, which their leader had been hoarding.<br /><br />Inside his safe there were 23 fossils from Stegodon and Gomphotherium combined and another 17 fossils of ancient Gharial and Barking deer.<br /><br />Junior monk Sawang Santamano told residents the fossils were donated by a local land developer who gave them to the temple each time he found a new one.<br /><br />He said: "There's a man who lives nearby who is a millionaire. He owns a land business and he always gave the fossils he found in his land to the monk Damrong.<br /><br />"The monk usually took the fossil he received to the Department of Mineral Resources for verification before keeping them in a safe."<br /><br />Village chairman Pichai Pitayapornpipat said the fossils now need to go to the government to be preserved correctly. <br /><br /><br />He said: "I contacted the officers from the department and asked them to come down and examine the fossils.<br /><br />"We will discuss the plan to preserve them for educational purposes even if it was against the late monk's wishes.''
