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NBC News
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Dmitry Solovyov/NBC News
Siberian sunset.
It’s hard to imagine, looking out at the frozen expanses of Yakutia, in North Eastern Siberia, that 30,000 or so years ago, so many animal species, now extinct, roamed the Pleistocene grasslands. From 12-foot tall, five-ton wooly mammoth bulls to tiny rodents, an Ice Age hunter would have found as many as 100 animals in each square mile he tracked, at least according to Sergei Zimov, our Ice Age expert, geo-physicist and guide during our recent visit.
Today, Siberia’s thick icy crust, or permafrost, which has held the remains of predators and herbivores alike in an epochal deep freeze, is beginning to melt. And the bones of prehistoric rhinos, bison, reindeer, horses – and yes, mammoths – are rising to Yakutia’s surface at an amazing rate. One literally trips over bones on a short stroll along the banks of the Kolyma River. The downside, of course, is the attendant release of so much CO2 – a greenhouse gas - as this melting permafrost exposes a 150-foot thick layer of plant and animal remains. But there is an upside: a burgeoning cottage industry in the finding and selling of prehistoric bones.
Zimov says that 30 years ago, only a handful of Russian "bone" men – serious businessmen - were attracted to the adventurous lifestyle, spending their summers combing Pleistocene beaches and valleys. Today, at least 1,000 bone hunters work throughout Russia, with several dozen focusing on Siberia’s permafrost zone, where the best prizes are to be found.
Dmitry Solovyov/NBC News
One of Zimov's prized mammoth tusks.
Professional hunters like Feodor Shidlovsky and Alexander Votagin are at the top of the bone chain. Shidlovsky has arguably the biggest mammoth bone collection in Russia, displaying them in his own natural history museum in Moscow. The money he makes from the sale of mammoth bones goes into his exhibitions, the funding of artists who fashion jewelry from the ancient bone, and scientific expeditions.
Every summer, Votagin leads his team to Dvarii Yar – or Windy Cliffs – a remote stretch of Kolyma riverbank that has given up the richest finds of prehistoric bones over the past decade. Located about 400 miles north of Zimov’s isolated science station in Cherskiy - Yakutia’s main airport and hub - the so-called New Siberian Islands (all underwater in Pleistocene times) are now a treasure trove of bones. Local hunters collect more than 20 tons of mammoth, rhino and bison bones a year, selling most of them to local dealers in Cherskiy – presumably to sell them to tourists like us, though the Russian government bans the export abroad.
And here’s why: prehistoric bones can be a very lucrative catch. While fishermen and hunters now augment their meager incomes with up to $10 per mammoth tooth or ivory shard, the more professional - and lucky – hunters can fetch more than $80,000 for a pair of mammoth tusks in good condition. Zimov keeps such a pair in the living room of his science station cum abode – but isn’t tempted to sell them.
Dmitry Solovyov/NBC News
Prehistoric bones along the beach.
"These are like my family," he told us. "Would you sell your brothers for $80,000?" In fact, Zimov has never sold any bones he’s collected over his decades of combing Yakutia for clues to global warming. On one such outing, he and his son Nikita collected some 1,200 bones – which he thinks is a world record - all which remained of a pack of mammoths and all within a few hundred yards of beach. For amusement, they arranged their bone hoard into the shapes of mammoths, horses and bison.
Until the mass, mysterious extinction of so many Ice Age animals took place - triggered, probably, by extreme change of climate and habitat - the so-called "Mammoth Steppe Eco-system" chugged along like a glacier, both efficient and self-sustaining. Mammoths knocked over heat-absorbing trees, grasses grew, and dozens of herbivore species not only grazed on those grasses, but fertilized them too.
Though that eco-system died some 15,000 years ago, mammoths and other Pleistocene throwbacks are helping to maintain today’s human population, with a $5 prehistoric bison jaw here, a $10 wooly rhino knee bone there or $1,000 piece of wooly mammoth tusk, buried right under your feet.
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Harry Smith is a great addition to N B C . When he left cbs I haven't watched is since ! That guy knows everything
I agree with Dave above. Usually, I shy away from Nightly News when Brian is not anchoring, Such is NOT the case when I hear Harry's mellifluous tones - perhaps the greatest voice in broadcast journalism today. Plus, he's smart as a whip with a winning smile - hooray Harry!
Harry Smith and Lester Holt who is mesermizing as well, impressed by the voice of both men. BTW
I wonder if Mr. Smith has a problem when he checks into a hotel with his wife. Just kidding!!!
Happy New Year!!
that idiot is running over trees we need to stop global warming
A vivid illustration of the extent of permafrost globally, the the magnitude of the potential impacts of rapid thawing, may be found on the U.S. Geological Survey Map entitled Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground Ice Conditions. Map CP-45. Your viewers should know that this is not an isolated phenomena and that adaptation to changes caused by thawing represent significant challenges.
It doesn't help Mitt Romney when his 41 and 40 year old grown son's talk like their high school teenagers and have to apologize about disrespectful comment about the US President. It seems Gov. Christie isn't busy in New Jersey as he's been campaigning along time in Iowa for Mitt. Last summer when Mitt/Christie and 5 GOP backers met in New Jersey the decision to have Christie as the VP choice was made. Things are going so bad in New Jersey as an increase in tolls is asked while Christie called in from Iowa to say it was Cozine's fault.
I got a chance to read some of Mr. and Mrs. Ron Paul's Cook and Political advise book, Mr. Paul has been selling while campaigning. It has to good receipts and Mrs. Paul adds her comment/thoughts.
It does seem Mitt has the nomination no matter how Iowa votes. With just a few GOP candidates listed on the future Primaries it seems like Mitt is in by default. Virginia is hearing cases to add candidates who didn't enough signatures to be on the ballot. Bachmann and Santorum are on the ballot in Tenn. Ron Paul might just run and could still pull it out if Obama doesn't draw in large numbers. It will be interesting to watch.
have a great evening all
Love your post, Jackie, but better Cozine's fault than former president George W. Bush's fault and
thinking of GWB when everybody is blaming you for everything and you don't lose your cool
you own the world and the GOP is still his Party and what happens at the party stays at the
party. Happy New Year Phyllis
speaking of parties, phyllis, i hope that kyle had a great birthday party on the 25th. i am sitting here looking at the hem of the apron that i'm wearing that my mom made, wondering how her eyes could see to do those teeny, tiny stitches, i sure couldn't and i'm years younger than when she made this apron, my eyes are going fast. i remember years ago when i was cutting out an apron and emailing one of the scientists at malin space science systems, who make the cameras that go to mars and study the pix, i mentioned the apron and that was the day that the mars observer took a pix on mars that was a geological 'apron'. geesh! best, anna martina
Why are you mucking up a science site with this drivel?
anna martina, We had a family Christmas dinner with Kyle and family and Lesley will have a party for
him later and thanks for asking. He turned 17. BTW, Kyle has been nominated Homecoming King
next Friday and as his grandmother I have bragging rights. He is sooooooooooooo good-looking,
a male version of Lesley when she was that age. Happy New Year and again thanks for asking.
I appreciate it. Best, Phyllis
Jackie, Anna and Phyllis! How are you all!? I haven't written to the Daily Nightly Blog in SO long because Brian hasn't been writing anymore! Do you know what's going on? Has he quit the blog or something? Hope you're all doing well! :)
-Cary
Cary, we have missed you sooooooooooo much, Happy New Year. I don't know what is going on with
Brian's Blog, and, hopefully, he will clear it up soon. I feel so good that if I felt any better I would have
to explain it :o) And how are you? What's new with you? Phyllis
PS Love the Photo, what a cool couple you two make!!! PK
Aw, thanks Phyllis! I have missed being a part of this blog very much. I have hardly written anything since the days Brian used to blog such great stuff. It was a great motivator and I need all of the motivation I can get. Trying to get my blog back up and running again with writing and photography. My brother is redesigning it for me. Hope you and all the rest of the regulars are doing well!
P.S. Thanks for the compliment! We are very happy! :)
hi, cary, we miss brian blogging, too, maybe one day he will surprise us and post some more great stuff again:-) life is a little crazy these days, i'm sure his head spins from all of the crazy things going on all over the globe. can you imagine when the pioneers lived on farms and ranches miles apart and had no clue what was going on with their neighbors even on a daily basis! of course, all of the manual labor of daily living was a full day+ back then, they fell into bed exhausted! no couch potatoes back then! today we have the daily grind which numbs your brain like crazy. brian and team do a great job of getting through the mental fog of the nation to make an impact so that people care about what is going on in our nation and around the world. we are connected by the technology but at the same time, we can become so isolated on an individual basis. communities and neighborhoods are not what they used to be. that is the challenge the media faces, breaking down those walls so that everybody feels like a living part of humanity. we're all in this together and that's very good to know! i am glad that you two are very happy:-) will look for your blog. best, anna martina
As Andrew Revkin of the NYT reported, the actual scientists researching the permafrost destabilization have said they do NOT attribute the permafrost destabilization to recent climate change, but rather to seawater inundation from thousands of years ago.
Nice try, though.
JanerGer mentions "actual scientists," but who are they? Names and research institutions please. I don't understand how seawater inundation thousands of years ago affects the melting of permafrost now. Please explain if you have read the research. Thank you.
Happy New Year Kate, good broadcast!!! I do not have a problem with Mitt Romney's religion because the
Mormon faith accepts the new reality of the New Jerusalem which is a Plus, in that it is the answer to our
present harsh reality. My husband and I saw Tom Cruise's Mission film and like it, but not too many in the
audience this year. The box office does not have magic this year and they are hoping for something
special in 2012 to bring the people into the theaters. The problem may be, quoting from The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir, "The movies , especially where the star is subordinated to the director (but what is
not to like about StevenSpielberg) permit the actress no invention and therefore nothing special or something
new, because the director (No offense Steven) exploits what she is, she creates nothing new." So Jane Fonda
could fill the theatres next year this time if the director would just leave her alone with the business of acting.
Hollywood was interrupted and it is not out of the realm of possiblity that we would witness the Golden Age
once again, thanks to Steven and Jane. Or actress Sharon Stone. Good luck with that. happy new year to all.
PS How could I have forgotten Meryl Streep, our greatest actress. I forgot, Ms. Stone's career is in
the toilet because of a misunderstanding between her and her director, so Ms. Fonda (whoever) might
not want to push her luck.
As many in Iowa are still undecided it seems it will be a tight race. Romney is getting alot of attention and Santorum has the support of Rupert Murdoch. Ron Paul is pretty well set as he went home for the weekend. Perry and Bachmann are working hard and Newt hopes to make up some ground. Virginia will have only two candidates to chose from as the other candidates didn't get enough signatures.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas/Hannaka and New Years and the best of life/health/happiness this 2012
have a great evening all
What no one has asked that says alot about Iowa. Rick Santorum spoke of blacks needing to get off of welfare, but he didn't know 84 per cent whites/9 per cent blacks in Iowa on Welfare. If one of these candidates would just talk of helping all Americans and stop pandering to a special group it would be better.
Mitt was funny as all his had on his mine for example of Obama was Kim Kardashian which proves what he and his sons talk about. Kim seems to attract alot of attention from men even those running for President.
With so many States Laws demanding two forms of ID before voting, it seems in the Republican Caucus/Primaries voters don't need to show any ID but just sign an oath to vote for the candidate who win. All the fuss about voting fraud is about reducing the other party from votes and has nothing at all to do about voting fraud at all.
have a great evening all
Were the bones found in Queen Elizabeth's Estate historic bones.? A dumb question maybe but wondering