Raising the Mammoth Page #5

They're valuable for bartering

in Khatanga

and are stashed underground to

keep them from being stolen.

Look at this... it seems that

it's brand new, yeah.

Really nice.

Absolutely wonderful.

As the weeks pass, strangers become

friends

and a family Bernard has known for

five years invites his group to

have a look at something truly

extraordinary.

Over a matter of months

a Dolgan family has dug almost an

entire mammoth skeleton

out of the tundra,

a rare and important find.

Enormous vertebrae in good condition

fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Edvokim tells Bernard the story of

how he discovered the bones.

Like almost all such finds

it was accidental.

Everyone pitches in to look for

the rest of the skeleton.

Though summer temperatures are more

comfortable for digging,

they're a disaster for the

preservation of frozen carcasses.

That's why Bernard must wait till

fall to extract the Jarkov mammoth.

When I came to the site,

I saw that maybe more than 82 percent

of the skeleton was already dig out.

It was so exciting to find more

and to be as close as possible as

122 percent of the skeleton.

Each time I find remains of mammoth

I take the position, I take the bones

I take sample after this

to make analyze, to make datation...

And it will be after collecting

all this information

and crossing all these datas

that we will be able to understand

what happened 22,222 years ago

with the mammoth and why they

disappeared.

I share with the Dolgan the same

love of the tundra

and we share the love of

very basic things.

They spend so much time trying

to survive.

And they are moving all,

two or three days from one place

to another place

and it's a hard process to move.

It's not easy.

They have no engines

they have no wheels.

They know that in this place

there is not enough grass

for the reindeer.

And they know that at that time

it's not a good place to fish

so they are moving near another lake.

There is hundred thousand and

hundred thousand lake in Taimyr,

so why this lake and not another one?

They are surviving only because

they know perfectly the tundra.

They are very far from everything.

They have no sugar

they have no coffee...

The only thing they can find

in tundra is fish and reindeer.

They will not change their life.

They don't want to go in the city.

They don't want to be a part of

the civilization

and they have make the choice to

live in the tundra.

They like to be in this special

universe

between the ground and the sky.

There is nothing.

They are the only human living in

this incredible country.

The collaboration of nomads and

explorers is science's gain.

These precious mammoth remains

will be flown to Khatanga for

safekeeping

and further studies of the animal's

little-known domain.

They'll meet again in September

when the second Jarkov mammoth

expedition gets underway.

In Khatanga, the first snows of

autumn herald the new season

and with it, the return to

unfinished business on the Taimyr.

Final preparations are underway

for the second Jarkov mammoth

expedition.

And the mammoth experts from

the Netherlands

and the United States have

just arrived.

Before the team hits the road,

"Dick Mol and Larry Agenbroad

are eager to have a look at

Bernard's summer finds.

For two dyed-in-the-wool

mammoth fans

this collection of woolly mammoth

artifacts is a treasure trove.

...but, a full-grown one,

...you can see it from the

jaw of the...

which is fused with the...

This is beautiful quality.

This time, an advance team has

been sent on

with some of the heavier gear.

The goal is to prep the site so

that the mammoth lift will get

underway before bad weather sets in.

And they're off.

The tracks in this great Arctic

desert lead down a lost road.

The entire northern hemisphere was

once a playground

for the woolly mammoth,

an animal that had adapted to the

most extreme climates on the planet.

Why animals so well buffered against

extinction disappeared

is a question that baffles the

scientists.

The Jarkov mammoth will provide

the clues they're looking for.

It's mid- September when the

helicopter sets down at the dig site

loaded with a few tons of cargo

and the expectations of two dozen men.

The scientists waste little time

getting to know their subject.

Two meters and 98 centimeters.

It's the first time they've seen

the Jarkov tusks

and their curiosity's gotten

the better of them.

And we need the circumference.

The American and Dutchman are joined

by Russian zoologist Alexei Tikonov,

who studied with Professor

Vereschagin.

And we need to write down the weight

the right tusk...

A tusk can reveal the sex

and state of health of the animal

according to Larry Agenbroad

and even the season it died.

The tusk is kind of the unwritten

diary for mammoths.

These are exceptional tusks.

They're better than any I've seen

except in living animals.

They're the highest quality fossil

ivory I've ever seen.

The Russian crew has made progress

in the weeks before Bernard arrives.

A block the size of a woolly mammoth

begins to emerge from the tundra.

Breaking through ice and permafrost

takes muscle

and - even in such extreme cold the

men quickly work up a dangerous sweat.

To prevent hypothermia, they dig in

shifts one hour of labor, one of rest.

As their link to the outside world

vanishes into the night

the men set about the business of

becoming a team again.

An expedition cook prepares the

meals this time around

but it's hardly gourmet fare in

a land of starch and reindeer steaks.

It's the first gathering of this

Franco Russian expedition

and somewhat subdued at least until

the men figure out

how to communicate in a strange mix

of Russian, French

English and Dutch.

Without heavy equipment only manpower

Bernard thinks he can raise

the mammoth in about a month.

But for some of the team memories

of the battle

they lost to the Jarkov mammoth

still haunt them.

Several days pass,

and the quarry of permafrost

and ice is growing around the

perimeter of the hole.

But it's slow going, even with

everyone pitching in.

There's an unforeseen glitch:

Their generator isn't strong enough

to power tools.

But it's not the only problem.

The block's size is an issue.

They must reduce it without damaging

the animal inside

and soon Bernard will have to

calculate the block's weight

to know if he can lift it.

But if his luck doesn't change

he risks losing the mammoth

to the winter again.

But the winds have shifted.

Somehow, somewhere in

a Khatanga junkyard

Anatoly has managed to rustle up

a new generator bigger

and more powerful than the last.

And just in the nick of time.

It doesn't take long for the men

to switch it on

move the equipment into place

and make all the connections.

The compressor will be used to

power the tools

that should make the work

go a lot faster.

But there's no fire behind this spark.

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