A mammoth mission

SOME 20,000 years ago, there strode this earth a huge animal, some 270 centimetres tall, woolly and with tusks that were 294 centimetres long. That was Jarkov, the Mammoth. Jarkov lived for approximately 47 years before he was buried beneath a mudslide in late winter or early spring.

But that was not the end of poor Jarkov. Now 20,000 years later, scientists are digging up a 22-tonne block of permafrost from the Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia. The woolly mammoth emerges again. And scientists hope Jarkov will give them about the sudden extinction of the species.

The Mammoth Expedition team consisting of Bernard Buigues, Sir Dirk Jan Dick Mol, Dr. Alexei Tikhanov, Dr. Ross MacPhee, Ms. Clare Flemming, Dr.Bas van Geel and Dr. Daniel Fisher began their mission to map the mammoth. Eleven two-man teams of expedition members set out to the Taimyr Peninsula in search of ancient bones and tusks scattered in this palaeontologists paradise. They installed a makeshift laboratory in the Khatanga, Siberia to investigate the Mammoth in a massive ice cave some 322 kilometres from where it was found.

On Sunday, March 11, 2001 beginning 8 p.m., the Discovery Channel presents the dramatic continuation of the mammoth story. During the defrosting process, evidence emerges from hair, soft tissue and bones, including four vertebrae from the fossil. The discoveries promise to reveal some interesting results to scientists, because, they have managed to thaw out only one per cent of the ice block Jarkov is embedded in. Dr. Buigues says,`` The Jarkov Mammoth is more important than I expected. What we have found has opened many doors in the scientific world than I expected. This is especially important for DNA research.''

Each team spent an average of 10-15 days in the tundra searching for the remains of frozen Ice Age mammals. The teams were not interested only in the mammoth, but the entire environment in which the `Ice Age Elephant' lived. This also includes studies of small mammals, insects, amphibians and birds. To do this, all the sediment that is defrosted from the main block will be screen washed and researched by Swedish entomologists.

Christened the `Land of the Mammoth', the Discovery Channel programme interweaves footage on the actual expedition with computer animation to depict the life of the mammoths of the past. The programme draws on the expedition's abundant findings - more than 1000 remains of Pleistocene wildlife- to explore how these massive herbivores grazed surrounded by musk oxen, horses, ice age reindeer, steppe bison and wolves.

Interestingly, Discovery Channel will also pan across the vast plains of Siberia, chronicling the lives of the nomadic Dolgan people of the area. The Dolgans bring team leader Dr Buigues bones, tusks and skulls in exchange for modern goods. Incidentally, Jarkov the Mammoth was named after a Dolgan tribal who chanced upon the remains first.

Remember you have a date with Jarkov this Sunday. Discovery Channel will pick you up from home at 8 p.m. All you have to do is switch on.

By Ramya Kannan

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