Chapter 6: Shandrin Mammoth

 

Professor V. V. Ukraintseva: In the summer of 1972 D.D. Kuzmin and A.M. Struchkov, residents of the settlement of Chokurdakh, found a mammoth’s skull and tusks on the right bank of the mid-Shandrin River (right tributary of the lower Indigirka River). News of the find reached B.S. Xusanov and P.A. Lazarev, scientists of the Institute of Geology, Yakutsk Branch of the Siberian Departments, USSR Academy of Sciences. In August, 1972, they arrived at the site and made excavation, which revealed a mammoth skeleton, buried at the base of terrace II above the flood plain (Fig. 22). In anatomical order. The skeleton proved to be that of an old, though not particularly big, male mammoth, 60-70 years old (Vereshchagin, 1975). It was embedded in laminated river loam, interbedded with coarse gravel.

 

Under a cover of ribs and broad pelvis bones, the internal organs could be recovered from permafrost and transported first to Yakutsk, where they were placed in a permafrost pit. Then the skeleton was brought to Novosibirsk, where P.A. Lazarev mounted it (Fig. 23) at the Novosibirsk Biological Institute, Siberian department of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The monolith of gastrointestinal tract was also brought to Novosibirsk in January, 1974, and examined by a team of specialists, including paleontologists, anatomists, microbiologists, parasitologists and geologists. N.V. Lovelius and the author participated in the work as representatives of the Komarov Botanical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

 

After thorough examination of the monolith of frozen gastrointestinal tact (Fig. 24) it was sawed up into eight segments (Fig. 25); this allowed reconstruction of the structure of abdominal organs of the extinct animal for the first time in history (Yudichev and Averikhin, 1982) and estimation of the mass of intestinal tract contents by weight; this totaled 291 kg plus 25 kg of decomposed intestinal parts. One of the eight segments of monolith (Fig. 25) clearly displayed loops of the small and large intestines.

 

Examination of the monolith, its subsequent investigation by Yudichev and Averikhin (1982) revealed the following portions of internal organs: 1) parts of the abdominal wall; 2) remains of the diaphragm, which preserved its thin fibrous structure; 3) the pancreas, preserved in the anterior lower monolith segment (Fig. 25); 4) fragments of the spleen and kidneys; 5) the stomach, with walls being very thin, but solid, was preserved in fragments only; 6) the small intestine; 7) the large intestine, fully preserved with a mummified wall 2 mm thick. The muscle tissue and submucous layer displayed extensive hemorrhages. Biochemical examination of the large intestine revealed a considerable amount of protein. About 15 kg of food mass from different sections of the gastrointestinal tract was given over to the Komarov Botanical Institute in Leningrad. V. V. Ukraintseva (1993;67, 69)

 

What were the vegetation, flora and climate patterns of the area at the mammoth’s lifetime, i.e. 40,350 ± 880 yr B.P., as determined by radiocarbon dating of plant remains extracted from the mammoth stomach (Arslanov et al., 1980)? To provide an answer to the question, let us present the results of the investigation of its gastrointestinal contents. It must be noted that it was a firmly compress mass of plant fragments varying in length (up to 8-10 cm) and diameter (up to 0.5 cm). Analysis of portion of the mass by N.G. Solonevich showed that it was composed of specimens of different plant groups, basically, herbs, namely, their epidermal tissues and vascular-fibrous clusters.

 

The epidermal structure indicates that they were mainly low shrubs of the family Ericaceae, as suggested by the ramification pattern. There occurred intact or semi-destroyed leaves of Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Salix sp., as well as small amounts of needles, bark, remains of seed scales of Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr (= Larix dahurica Turcz.). The bulk of needle mass was partially destroyed, lacking either the base or the cap, with the maximal needle length not exceeding 107 mm. Abundant moss remains occurred as short sprigs or stem apexes, as well as single intact or semi-destroyed leaves and leafless stem fragments. V. V. Ukraintseva (1993:73

 

The composition of plants and frequency of their occurrence in forage mass showed that shortly before its death the mammoth fed on sedges, cotton-grasses and grasses and some herbs, whose epidermal tissues are readily digestible and therefore they are rare or absent in forage mass (Pedicularis sp., Saxifraga  sp., Valerianna capitata and others), whereas their pollen occur in low amounts. Low shrubs (Dryas punctata, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Cassiope tetragona, Ericaceae) branches of the birch (Betula exilis) and willow (Salix sp.), thin sprigs of the larch (Larix gmelinii) were also eaten. Besides, the mammoth fed on true and bog mosses, presumably abundant in the soil cover. Remains of some of these plants are common in the intestinal contents (Solonevich et all, 1977). …

 

Dissection showed that ‘the mammoth had died in early spring of asphyxia owing to acute meteorism of the stomach and intestines, caused by consumption of enormous quantities of poorly digestible fodder, such as old dry grass, turf, bush branches’ (Yudichev and Averikhin, 1982, p. 37).

 

Abundance of macroremains, pollen and spores of plants of moist and swampy habitats, such as sedges, cotton grasses, grasses, for example, Arctophila fulva, true and bog mosses in the forage mass of the mammoth’s gastrointestinal tract indicates that shortly before the death, the mammoth had lived on moss-herb communities. This includes shrubs and low shrubs in open woodland or in forest-tundra, composed of the larch (Larix gmelinii), bark, needles, small cones, seed scales, pollen of which was detected in forage mass (Solonevich et al., 1977; Gorlova, 1982). The present-day equivalent of the past paleocommunities is probably the forest-tundra communities in the Yercha River Basin, their north boundary lying 200-250 km south of the mammoth’s burial site. V. V. Ukraintseva (1993:74).

 

The paleobotanical data (Solonevich et al., 1977; Gorlova, 1982) above suggest that in the mammoth’s lifetime, i.e. 40,350 ± 880 yr B.P., the area was dominated by paludal (= moist) open woodlands, composed of larch forests, alternated with shrub and low shrub breaks, while the river flood plain was basically occupied by low shrub-moss meadows, with herb-grass communities and lowland cotton grass-shrub-moss meadows, with herb-grass communities and lowland cotton grass-sedge marshes presumably occupying large areas there. It should be noted that Tomskaya (1981, p. 159-162) interprets the spectra of two samples, taken from the Shandrin mammoth’s intestine, as tundra-steppe ones; this is quite inconsistent with conclusions made by Solonevich and coworkers (1977) and Gorlova (1982).

 

The mammoth’s death falls on the Karginsky Interglacial, namely, its optimum (kind, 1974). … Calculations performed showed that about 40,000 yr B. P., the solar input in the mid-Shandrin River Basin was twice that of today (Table 11); like today, over half of annual precipitation (53 %) fell in the period, when temperatures were above 0°C and almost doubled recent precipitation. The summer was warmer, the deviation from current mean July temperatures measured 4°C. V. V. Ukraintseva (1993; 77)

 

Shortly before its death the mammoth grazed on highly moistened or heavily paludal sites in open larch woodlands. Its fodder was mainly composed of sedges, cotton grasses, grasses, low shrubs (dryad, red bilberries, cassiope and other plants), springs and leaves of larger shrubs and undershrubs, including alder, willow, low birch, as well as young shoots of larch. This mixture also included mosses, abundant in the ground cover.

 

The present paludal forests and open woodlands, whose northern boundary lies in the Yercha River Basin, 2100-250 km south of the mammoth’s burial site, appear to be equivalents of vegetation growing in the pre-Shandrin River Basin at the time of mammoth’s death. V. V. Ukraintseva (1993; 80)

 

 

Indigirka River Basin, when Shandrin Mammoth was living there

 

40,350 ± 880 years ago: 12.0°C July temperature, -34.0°C January temperature, Mean annual temperature –13.0°C.

Annual temperature sum of days above 0°C 936°C. Annual precipitation 277 mm. - V. V. Ukraintseva (1993:79)

 

 

Result

 

The Shandrin mammoth bull cannot have lived in the climate, which Professor V.V. Ukraintseva has calculated (at an annual temperature sum of days above 0°C of 936°C). It would have starved, thirsted and frozen there to death. Not even the bison could have lived there in such a climate. This also shows us that there must be something seriously wrong with this radiocarbon date. Because it gives a date, at which the mammoth was not able to live up there at all. The Shandrin mammoth bull has lived in a mild, temperate climate before the global Flood of Noah’s days, about 4371 years ago, according to Bible chronology. And this global Flood has drowned him and has buried him. The mammoth has not died, where they found it. The burial site, where they found him, is secondary, not primary. That is, it has not lived and died there. Rivers have carried it there, when it was already dead and frozen stiff.