Ancient insects find shows India wasn't isolated 50mn yrs ago

[siegecrossbow]

A bit gamy tasting? I wonder...

I had also heard that a lot of these frozen carcasses were found in the past by sled dogs. They'd be jamming along, and all of a sudden, come to a halt because there's a yummy mammoth leg sticking out of the ice that they could chow on.

There were a lot of these guys, apparently. You can buy mammoth tusks and sections for knife grips and scrimshaw (off eBay, for example) for less than elephant ivory, which is highly regulated. Men make a living looking for fossil ivory in likely areas.

IIRC, they last died out on an island about 7,000 years ago. A blink of a geologic eye. What a shame.

The frozen mamoth steak thing, unfortunately, was later exposed to be a myth. The flesh still decomposed a bit when the tundra thawed so the flesh probably won't be very appetizing (not for humans at least).

How do they tell Mammoth and Elephant ivory apart?

 

[CardSharp]

The frozen mamoth steak thing, unfortunately, was later exposed to be a myth. The flesh still decomposed a bit when the tundra thawed so the flesh probably won't be very appetizing (not for humans at least).

How do they tell Mammoth and Elephant ivory apart?

What! it was one of my earliest memories from the series of books call the "ten thousand why's"

 

[Chogy]

The most obvious is the coloration. Mammoth ivory takes up minerals, and while it is still technically ivory, and works like ivory (it isn't a stone fossil), it is usually darker, with a mineralized coloration.

On big tusks, where the minerals don't make it past the surface, the experts can easily determine the difference. Apparently, it has something to do with the way the grains flow.

Mammoth ivory is totally unregulated and freely bought and sold, for obvious reasons.

I think a lot of these large animals that coexisted with early man were hunted to extinction, either because they were tasty, dangerous to people, or both. Imagine, one mammoth could feed a village for months if they dried and smoked the leftovers.

 

[Chogy]

Mammoth ivory: Note the dark coloration.

Elephant ivory, fresh and white...

I enjoy scrimshaw and making knife handles and such, and one can work on mammoth ivory "guilt-free."