Raising the Mammoth Page #4

a chainsaw.

Using the most basic tools available

in Khatanga,

the work is backbreaking.

Progress is slower than expected.

But Bernard takes time to gather

permafrost samples

for a survey on the mammoth's little

studied habitat.

Voila!

On the horizon is a welcome sight,

a herd of reindeer announcing the

arrival of the Dolgans.

All year 'round, the Dolgans travel

the tundra on wooden sleds,

harnessed to the reindeer they catch

and domesticate.

Guenady Jarkov has come as promised

to consult with Bernard.

He's brought along his family and

the magnificent Ice Age tusks.

The Dolgans use mammoth ivory

for buttons, tools,

and ornaments for their herds.

No one can wait to have a look

at the freshly cleared ground.

Guenady wants to show Bernard as

accurately

as possible how he found the tusks.

If Bernard can determine how

the mammoth lies underground,

he'll risk less of a chance of

damaging it while digging.

Hospitality is the rule on the tundra

and it's offered with gratitude.

The cooperation of the Dolgans on

this dig is a first.

Though their ancestors roved

the Taimyr for 422 years,

Bernard is the first mammoth hunter

to seek their advice

and to attempt to honor the rules of

their culture.

With the earth so resistant to

the advances of pick and shovel,

it could take days for the team to

move forward.

Bernard comes up with an idea

that may help move the process along.

It's a kind of makeshift greenhouse

designed to soften the ground.

And if it works, the men joke

they'll all want to camp there.

But it worked too well.

To warm the earth any further could

risk harming the animal inside.

On the tundra tonight,

there's a hope that the elusive

mammoth will show himself soon.

Within hours, the earth has yielded

its first sign of mammoth:

A molar, very well preserved.

Despite the signs of scavengers

Bernard is unfazed.

Like tree rings, the ridges in the

teeth reveal a mammoth's age.

This one is 47.

Do I have an idea, a better idea

of this?

And after I will try to put up

you will help me, yeah?

With the remains of the skull

now extracted

Bernard will focus his search

on the anomaly

so clearly displayed by the radar.

Over the ages, the mammoth's head

must have drifted slightly

from its body.

Bernard decides to reposition

the tusks.

That way, the team can assess

where the bulk of the mammoth lies

and how to resume the dig.

According to the radar,

what should remain in the earth is

a mammoth-sized carcass.

Take care of the end

and maybe Nico or Vladimir, take out?

No, don't touch.

Give me a little bit of snow

pack of snow. Please.

Concerned that a storm may be

on its way

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