Holy Mammoth Batman! Silly Boys...

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I can't say that I ever thought that South Dakota would be home to a major dig of mammoths! Surprised to find that it truly is. Apparently, a bunch of the big rascals went and died in a South Dakota spring about 26,000 years ago.

Push forward to 1974, and a local developer was getting ready to bulldoze the site to put up some homes and hit some bones. Research began as to what they had hit and they discovered it was mammoth bones. Columbian mammoths to be exact. They've been working ever since to dig out all the bones. The current count is 45 North American Columbian mammoths and 2 wholly mammoths (Canadian version). Plus, some bears and other creatures.

And get this gals...all the mammoths are males! No one knows for sure why but as our tour guide said, boys have a way of being a bit rowdy so often got kicked out of the herds by the females. (This still occurs today with their cousins the elephants which is how they have come to this conclusion.) The boys then became loners and went to a sinkhole with a nice warm spring in it. Figuring they'd take an enjoyable bath, they would climb in, have their bath and then realize that the walls were too steep and slippery for them to climb back out. That was the end of their roaming. They died from exhaustion or drowning. The females, on the other hand, stayed in groups and didn't tread on ground they didn't know because they tended to be very protective of each other and their young. Because of the spring and subsequent muddy build up over the centuries, the bones were very well preserved.

The South Dakota site is the largest Columbian mammoth dig in the world and operated by a non-profit organization. They train volunteers and only dig in July of each year because they end up spending the rest of the year cataloguing what they were able to unearth. Some of the bones unearthed to date are fully complete and volunteers have several cute names for them. You need to take the tour to get the full story.

Just amazing to see. The place is a must see for lovers of history. Also really cool to see how they are digging out the bones. Great visit.

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