Ice Age Death Trap

PBS ^ | Aired February 1, 2012 | NOVA / WGBH

[SunkenCiv]

Scientists race to uncover a site in the Rockies packed with fossil mammoths and other extinct ice age beasts... In the Rocky Mountains, archeologists uncover a unique fossil site packed with astonishingly well-preserved bones of mammoths, mastodons, and other giant extinct beasts. The discovery opens a highly focused window on the vanished world of the Ice Age in North America... They're finding thousands of bones of many different types, but most of them are mastodon, ancient elephants. In the depths of the Ice Age, entire families of these mighty beasts came down to this ancient lake to graze. And their bones reveal tantalizing clues that, very suddenly, something may have wiped them out... Furry and chunkier than its mammoth cousins, the mastodon was built to fight. Averaging five tons, it was about the size of today's African elephant, but more robustly built. The giant Bison latifrons also flourished in the warmth. At two tons, this one was twice as big as today's bison, with up to eight-foot headgear. One top predator of these warm-weather animals was Smilodon, the saber-toothed cat. About six feet long and 600 pounds, Smilodon used its bulk to subdue prey, not its teeth. Only when the prey was down would it sink its enormous fangs into a victim's windpipe and jugular.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
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[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Archaeologists dig up manmade objects. Paleontologists dig up prehistoric life/fossils (including Helen Thomas). (Been both).

THere is a difference. And our tax dollars pay the people at NOVA to write this stupidity?

[misanthrope]

GAWD. A link to PBS!

I feel dirty.....

[JoeProBono]

[tumblindice]

http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files//2010/06/Helen-Thomas-ChildFund.jpg

[garjog]

Question: what does a 600 pound Kitteh eat?

Answer: What ever he wants.

[VeniVidiVici]

Did they find their SUVs too?

[misanthrope]

I just watched it. Damn interesting.

o\One possible explanation that was never touched on for the huge deposits of mastodon bones was them being deposited there by a huge flood released by a glacial ice dam breach. I never see this discussed.

[ETL]

[bkopto]

Thank you SunkenCiv!

[Steve Van Doorn]

The theory is Kennewick Man dates back up to 50,000 years.

[JohnnyP]

Pasco Man and Richland Man feel left out.

[Sherman Logan]

If you read the transcript, one of the theories is that some of the dead animals were killed and cached by people.

Which would make their bones man-made objects.

[muir_redwoods]

"In the depths of the Ice Age, entire families of these mighty beasts came down to this ancient lake to graze"

They starved to death or drowned because they tried to graze on a lake. PBS has such careful writers.

[Dusty Road]

My theory would be one that I've actually witnessed many times here on the ranch and no time was it worse than last year. We lost just over 60 head of cattle probably over 100 deer that got stuck in the mud around 3 ponds that were drying up due to the severe drought last year. As they dry up the cows turn the outside of the ponds into muddy death traps from 3 to 3 1/2 ft deep as they keep going out to reach water. Coyotes and bobcats also get caught in these traps in their effort to reach the carcases stuck in the mud. One of the ponds has since dried up and bottom is littered with bones from those that died. The next heavy rains will fill the ponds back up but the mud and silt coming with it will cover the bones.

[Dusty Road]

One other thing that I’ve noticed is sick or dying animals nearly always go to water, another example I see here on the ranch.

[BwanaNdege]

Good theory!

This might be another explanation.

"Lake Nyos Disaster"

[stayathomemom]

I didn’t read the article;-), just the excerpt, and from that, imagined that your scenario would be surmised in the article.

[Steve Van Doorn]

funny how they name things. They should pick one name to make it less confusing