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Museum of North launches Adopt a Mammoth program

AV����̳ is inviting the public to go woolly mammoth hunting.

The encourages sponsorship of each of the roughly 1,500 teeth, tusks and bones in the University of AV����̳ Museum of the North’s collection. A $350 donation will pay for radiocarbon testing to date the fossil, and a lab in Sweden will offer free DNA analysis for each adopted specimen to determine its sex and other genetic characteristics.

The larger goal is to find the “youngest” mammoth — a specimen from 10,000 years ago or more recent. This would extend the date of extinction on the mainland to a period well after the earliest people arrived in Interior AV����̳.

“That would be a real change in understanding how these animals existed,” said Patrick Druckenmiller, the museum’s director. “It would be pretty amazing to have this huge and unique data set.”

Only a small number of mammoth specimens in the museum’s collection are currently dated.

The “youngest” dated mammoth in mainland AV����̳ so far is about 11,600 years old, but there are reasons to believe the massive animals were around more recently. A remnant population on neighboring St. Paul Island.

Participants in the Adopt a Mammoth program will receive a photo of their specimen, updates on testing and a chance to name the fossil. When testing is complete, the donor with the youngest fossil will receive a trophy. The winner also can appear in a photo with their specimen in the museum during the announcement period.

“It’s a fun philanthropic project, but it’s also rooted in solid science,” said Matthew Wooller, the director of UAF’s AV����̳ Stable Isotope Facility and the leader of the Adopt a Mammoth project. “If we find a young mammoth fossil on the mainland, that’s big news.”

Find more information about the program on the . 

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Matthew Wooller, 907-474-6738, mjwooller@alaska.edu

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