RUSSIA: Bones of prehistoric animals unearthed in Siberia, proving windfall for scientists and business

Living on the harsh, Arctic edge of Siberia, scientist Sergei Davydov has reasons to celebrate global warming. A 52-year-old specialist in ancient ecosystems, Davydov's house is surrounded by land that has been frozen for tens of thousands of years. Thanks to a rise in global temperatures, the soil, known as permafrost, is now thawing. The thawed ground is revealing the bones of ancient animals which used to roam the local steppes. His precious collection includes giant thigh bones of mammoths, prehistoric rhino horns, the jaws of ancient horses and the skull of a cave lion. Living at a scientific outpost eight time zones and thousands of miles away from Moscow, Davydov found most of the bones on the banks of the cold Kolyma river that runs in front of his house. The bones are well-preserved and reveal a great deal about the lives of prehistoric animals that were wiped off the earth thousands of years ago. "These findings can tell us about the ecology of these times, about the eco-systems that existed during those times, about the ecology of the mammoth, about his movements, the dangers they faced and the natural world at the time. By analysing the isotopes in the bones it is possible to say what the mammoth used to eat, what kind of diet he had, whether he ate grass or twigs, what kind of vegetation it preferred and what kind of climate there was at the time," says Davydov. Mammoths are believed to have evolved about five million years ago. Their remains have been found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Most mammoths died out at the end of the last Ice Age. A lot of scientists blame the climate change for their sudden mass extinction, but a definite explanation still has to be agreed on. By studying the bones Davydov hopes to find answers to the many questions surrounding the prehistoric mammoth. A complete set of mammoth teeth, each the size of a large shoe, helps him understand the different kinds of grasses and shrubs mammoths were able to eat. "This tooth has an unusual bump here," says Davydov, pointing to a bump on a heavy black tooth. "This mammoth suffered from a terrible toothache. You can only imagine how he roared," says Davydov. Nikita is another scientist who lives at the science station. He often picks up relics along the shores of the cold Kolyma River which he examines to study the effect of climate warming. But it is not only nature-loving enthusiasts that search the thawing soil for bones. Mammoth bones are hot items with museums that focus on the Pleistocene epoch, while the giant tusks are traded for their ivory. "Nowadays it is difficult to find bones of animals here, because lots of local people roam around and search for mammoth tusks. Because for a tusk they can receive good money," said Nikita, after picking up a piece of a mammoth hip. Local businessman Alexander Vatagin prizes the quest for mammoth bones as both a passionate hunter and calculating businessman. Each year he leads expeditions to remote ice-cold rivers where he often dives himself. Vatagin flies by helicopter to the main Yukagir settlement, Andryushkino, some 200 km (125 miles) west of the local centre of Cherskiy. The photos he holds feature smiling slanting-eyed bone prospectors with their trophies - giant curled tusks. He pays between 200 roubles (8 U.S. dollars USD) and 4,000 roubles (156 USD) per kilogramme of mammoth bones, depending on their quality. Tusks, sometimes curled like a nearly complete, giant ring, can reach a length of four metres (12 feet) and even five metres (15 feet) and are among most precious parts of the skeleton. A pair of good tusks is a rarity, two tusks and a well-preserved head can bring a fortune. "You simply can go for a day and find a thing like that and earn at once two hundred thousand roubles," Vatagin says. "This is more than a family can earn in one year while working in a factory in the local town of Andrusha. In one moment you can earn all this money," Vatagin said. Vatagin's mammoth spoils make a lengthy journey by truck along bumpy roads to Chukotka from where they are flown by an occasional plane before arriving in their tonnes to Moscow. From there they go to The Ice Age Museum in Moscow that features mammoth skeletons, reconstructed lifetime models of their huge furry bodies and other pre-historic animals, as well as scrimshaw from mammoth ivory. The museum is now almost three years old, enjoying the support of Moscow's charismatic mayor. No surprise, one of the furry beasts in the exhibition is named Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov after the mayor! The company running the museum, which has licences for excavation and exports of the relics, makes no secret that its yearning for discoveries goes hand-in-glove with business interests. A well-preserved tusk may be sold to private collectors for up to 20,000 USD, while a reconstructed mammoth skeleton can fetch between 150,000 USD and 250,000 USD. Some of the mammoth-fauna finds make their way to museums abroad and can be seen in the U.S., China and South Korea.

ITN Source | September 18, 2007

Tags:. .flies. .harsh. .explanation. .evolved. .arctic