Mammoth Hunters
The Siberian tundra has become a battleground in the new fight between business and science. Both lay claim to the remains of 150 million woolly mammoths, which lie just beneath the permafrost.
Since the ban on elephant ivory, the value of mammoth ivory has doubled. The booming market is a godsend to impoverished locals. "There's not much work around. Everybody looks for tusks", states mammoth hunter Alexander Makarov. But scientists fear that priceless scientific information could be lost forever in the race to make profits. "The tusks contain especially important information", explains researcher Albert Protopopov. New regulations require hunters to hand over a sample of every tusk they uncover for scientific analysis. But scientists are losing the race to unearth the actual remains. "In order to launch an expedition you have to book tens of helicopter flying hours. Everything is expensive."
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