1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 We're more than 100 miles above the Arctic Circle and continuing farther north. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Brian and some dudes up there in the trees, kind of starting to poke their heads out. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,000 I think the best move is for us to stay put. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,000 The scale of what is going on out here is extraordinary. 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:29,000 You see what these guys have found and try to determine if there's any DNA worth collecting. 6 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,000 Look at this place. 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 This ceiling is going to come down on its back. 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Back up! 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Look at this thing. 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Intact! 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Hey, I'm on a truth. 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,000 My name is Josh Gates. 13 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Look at that! With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration. 14 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations. 15 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,000 This is horrible. This is officially horrible. 16 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:15,000 My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth as I investigate the greatest legends in history. 17 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,000 We're good to try, let's go. 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 This is Expedition Unknown. 19 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 The Woolly Mammoth, the largest mammal ever to walk the earth. 20 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Over 12 feet tall and weighing several tons, the mammoth ruled the Ice Age, dominating Northern Europe, North America and Asia. 21 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Yet sometime around 11,000 years ago, they started vanishing from the planet. 22 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 To explain the rise and fall of the Woolly Mammoth, I visited Canadian gold mines, 23 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 where high-powered water cannons are revealing ancient bones trapped in permafrost. 24 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Oh my God! 25 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,000 And I flew to Seoul, South Korea to visit Soam Biotech, 26 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 a laboratory pioneering the controversial technology of cloning. 27 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Cloning. Look at that. 28 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,000 They hoped to turn science fiction into fact by resurrecting the mammoth from extinction. 29 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000 But to make their dream a reality, they need something elusive, a strand of intact mammoth DNA. 30 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:28,000 So I flew to Siberia to join scientists Alexei Tikonov and Sinyin Grigoryev on a daring expedition, 31 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:33,000 hunting for pristine remains buried in the frozen ground for thousands of years. 32 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Welcome to Batagac, Krater. 33 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Whoa. 34 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:47,000 The crater is a terrifying wonder, a mile-wide sinkhole that formed after locals cut down trees 35 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,000 atop vast mountains of permafrost. 36 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,000 The whole wall is literally just disintegrating. 37 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 The rapidly eroding ice offers a snapshot of over 300,000 years of history. 38 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:08,000 After repelling down into the crater, our team has discovered the femur of a woolly mammoth 39 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,000 from the Pleistocene era. 40 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000 And we're about to learn if this leg has the DNA I've traveled 13,000 miles to find. 41 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Look at this. 42 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:22,000 Oh, my God. 43 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000 That's unbelievable. 44 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Yeah, you see this spongy structure. 45 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,000 That's marrow, yeah? 46 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Yes, it's marrow. 47 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,000 It's very well preserved. 48 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Wow, okay. 49 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 A really good piece of bone. 50 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000 We bag our first potential DNA specimen. 51 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,000 The more we get, the better our chances of finding clone-worthy material. 52 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 We continue to scan the collapsing landscape, which suddenly reveals a second mammoth bone. 53 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Guys, another one here. 54 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Oh, great. 55 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Yeah, here. 56 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:52,000 It's a big one. 57 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Here. 58 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Come on. 59 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,000 Come on. 60 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Okay, good. 61 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Well, that means twice as many bones, right? 62 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 What do you think, maybe from the sand mammoth? 63 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Tusc! 64 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Oh, really? 65 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 You got a tusk? 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Okay, great. 67 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 What do you got? 68 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 All these pieces, all broken, yeah? 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Trapped in the ice. 70 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Still in the ice. 71 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Still in the ice, yeah. 72 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Tusks. 73 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Tusks, yeah, pieces of tusks. 74 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Even though the tusk is badly damaged and crushed in the ice, we'll be able to take a sample for later analysis. 75 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000 We continue to scour the mud at the bottom of the treacherous crater, 76 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,000 and eventually we send the lab specimen cooler back up to the surface. 77 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Okay, hoisted up! 78 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Oh, my chin is... 79 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Our team on the crater's rim pulls it to safety, as for us, we're forced to hike the long way around. 80 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 With our first samples on ice, we're ready to continue our search for mammoth DNA. 81 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:01,000 The crater is located above the Arctic Circle in a remote northern region of Siberia. 82 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,000 From here, we drive to the nearest, and, well, only city around. 83 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Welcome to Badagai. 84 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 This frontier settlement is home to about 4,000 people, 85 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 though, to be honest, I've only seen about a half a dozen of them. 86 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,000 Back in its heyday, it was an industrial town. 87 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,000 It had an active tin mine, it had a logging industry. 88 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000 It was also home to gulags, the famous Soviet forced labor camps. 89 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000 But all of that is in the past. 90 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,000 Today, Badagai feels more like a ghost town, 91 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,000 a place that's barely hanging on against the edge of the Siberian wilderness. 92 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000 There's not much by way of sightseeing here, 93 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 and after our adventure at the crater, I'm feeling famished. 94 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,000 So I pop into a local restaurant for a casual bite to eat. 95 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Fairly confident I've just woken up in a Siberian Wes Anderson movie, 96 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,000 I do my best to ignore the charming art, 97 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 which I'm hoping isn't also on the menu. 98 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:27,000 Aha! 99 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,000 One night, local delicacy, horse and venison. 100 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 Horse and venison. 101 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Got it. 102 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,000 This is for one person? All this? 103 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 I guess she's just staying there. 104 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 A lot of pressure. 105 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,000 Hmm. 106 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Looks like sea biscuit lost that last race. 107 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 Sorry buddy. 108 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000 Much of the local economy that's left around here revolves around the trade of mammoth ivory. 109 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 So in order to find a source for the DNA we need, 110 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,000 Alexei has linked us up with someone who's connected. 111 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,000 A local craftsman who carved sculptures out of mammoth ivory. 112 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,000 Nice to meet you. 113 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,000 You made this? 114 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,000 Really intricate. 115 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Can you show me how you do this? 116 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:38,000 I'm like mystified by how you get a block of ivory to turn into this. 117 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Ivan grabs a small piece of ivory and goes to work. 118 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 First with a sanding wheel, then a fine grinding tool. 119 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Mammoth tusk is much denser than elephant ivory, 120 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,000 but in less time than it takes to brush my teeth, 121 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 he's able to give me a taste of what he can do. 122 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,000 That's insane. 123 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Come on. 124 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,000 That's crazy. 125 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,000 You can try to... 126 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 For me to make this? 127 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,000 Yes, sure. 128 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000 I have a funny feeling it's not going to look like this. 129 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:11,000 I'll try. 130 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Okay, and do what? 131 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,000 Can somebody queue up a good unchained melody knockoff? 132 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,000 I feel like Demi Moore is ghost right now. 133 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,000 I know, I'm trying to concentrate, I'm just falling in love with you, so it's hard. 134 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,000 This is the one where I lose my hand. 135 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Fine, hold on, I just dropped it here. Let me just grab it. 136 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Oh, here we go. 137 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:37,000 Perfect. 138 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:38,000 What do you think? 139 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,000 It's my first try, but it's not bad, right? 140 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,000 Ivan's tusk carving is impressive, 141 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,000 but it also raises questions that could be important as we press on in our hunt for DNA. 142 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Is this type of ivory carving legal? 143 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:56,000 It's absolutely legal, yeah, because you just pick up this ivory from the melted sediments, 144 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,000 from the melted deposits in Tundra, in the forest. 145 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:00,000 So humane ivory? 146 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,000 Humane ivory, yeah. 147 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 Where do you get the ivory from? 148 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Your work is great, but where do you get it from? 149 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000 Even though this is legal, so-called humane ivory is banned in most of the world. 150 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 People here are often very guarded about revealing their sources, 151 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,000 but in this case, we seem to be in luck. 152 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,000 I have a supplier in the north. 153 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,000 He has a dealer from the north of the republic, and he will come. 154 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Yeah? 155 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Yeah, sure, it's possible. 156 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Can you call him? 157 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 He can call, just now. 158 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Sure, go ahead. 159 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Ivan calls up his dealer. 160 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Hello! 161 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 And has to convince him to meet us, 162 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 which makes this whole thing start to feel all kinds of shady. 163 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Go ahead, man. 164 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,000 But about a half hour later, his tusk dealer arrives. 165 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,000 And have you met this guy or no? 166 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,000 No, it's his first time, yeah. 167 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,000 That's him? 168 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,000 I knew our expedition would take us to the edge of the map. 169 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Now it seems it's taking us to the edge of the law. 170 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,000 I'm in northern Siberia with a team from Soam Biotech Labs, 171 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,000 attempting to clone the Woolly Mammoth. 172 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,000 On our hunt for preserved mammoth DNA, 173 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,000 we've been hooked up with a mammoth ivory dealer, 174 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,000 who may have a potential source. 175 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000 But the tusk hunting business is a legal grey area in Russia, 176 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,000 and it involves the kind of guys who usually sell stuff 177 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,000 off the back of their truck. 178 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:41,000 Hello, I'm Josh. 179 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,000 Nice to meet you. 180 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000 The ivory that Ivan carves with, he gets from you? 181 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,000 Yeah? You have it here? 182 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,000 Yeah, yeah, can we see? 183 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,000 So it's... 184 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,000 Oh my god, that's all ivory. 185 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,000 Look at this, it's huge. 186 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,000 And heavy, really heavy. 187 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Look at that. 188 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 It was a big male around 50, 60 years old. 189 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 What did he do with me? 190 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:09,000 This is a female. 191 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,000 If I were to buy all of this, both bags, 192 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,000 how much would that cost for all of the ivory here? 193 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000 $5,000. 194 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Will he say where this is coming from? 195 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:21,000 Can we ask him where it's coming from? 196 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:22,000 Okay. 197 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,000 Misha, where do you get all this material from? 198 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,000 From the north, it's called Unigen. 199 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,000 The name of this site is Unigen. 200 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,000 Unigen? 201 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Yeah, it's not a town, only wild teams of mammoth ivory hunters. 202 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,000 It's quite a remote place. 203 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 No law, no police. 204 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,000 So it's deadwood? 205 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,000 It's a dangerous place. 206 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,000 And is there more of this stuff up there? 207 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,000 Alexei speaks in hushed tones with the ivory dealer. 208 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:54,000 If Unigen is his source, then it could be a potential treasure trove of mammoth DNA. 209 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:57,000 Still, it's one thing to ask where his supply comes from, 210 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,000 but it's quite another to ask if we can go visit. 211 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Too many questions here. 212 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,000 Okay. 213 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Let me talk a little bit. 214 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 Let me explain for him about our scientific mission. 215 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Okay. 216 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,000 I have to say, none of this feels legitimate. 217 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,000 But Unigen could be our best chance for finding the crucial DNA we're looking for. 218 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:21,000 All we have to do is somehow negotiate our passage with black market raiders 219 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,000 and do an isolated wilderness with no law to speak of. 220 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Vasily. 221 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,000 We're going to a scientific organization. 222 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,000 What does Vasily give you? 223 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,000 Hydrot. 224 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,000 Josh, he gave to me some names for this place. 225 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,000 Are they good contacts? 226 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:41,000 It's a place to start here. 227 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,000 Yeah, okay. 228 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,000 Great. 229 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Thank you very much. 230 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Appreciate it. 231 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:52,000 A lot of boats. 232 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,000 Yeah. 233 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 After a lot of phone calls to a lot of unlisted numbers, 234 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,000 Alexi makes the decision. 235 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000 We'll attempt to travel to the Tusk Hunting camps at Unigen. 236 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000 The site is deep up the Yonah River, 237 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,000 and Alexi has assembled a crack team to get us there, 238 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,000 including additional backup from SOAM Labs back in Korea. 239 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,000 Nice to meet you. 240 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Insang Hwang is a veteran of several expeditions to find mammoth DNA, 241 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,000 and he's well-versed in both the science and diplomacy of mammoth hunting. 242 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:21,000 Insang, nice to meet you. 243 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,000 Nice to meet you. 244 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,000 How are you? 245 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:24,000 Good, how are you? 246 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,000 Good, I'm good, I'm good. 247 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:26,000 You work with the SOAM Lab, yeah? 248 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,000 Right, right. 249 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,000 So we potentially found this new site, Alexi told me. 250 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:30,000 We've never been there. 251 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,000 This is the only method of transportation that's available to us. 252 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,000 There's no roads leading there. 253 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,000 We have to travel up north 200 kilometers from here, so it's pretty far. 254 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,000 Will we be welcome up there? 255 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,000 We don't really know, we don't really know, because it's a brand new site. 256 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:49,000 A lot of hunters are going to be there, and it's impossible to tell whether they have the license 257 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,000 to actually collect ivory from that site. 258 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:53,000 So there's illegal stuff going on. 259 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:58,000 Right, we're treading into a very gray area, and we might as well be cautious. 260 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Okay, let's load up. 261 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:00,000 Let's go. 262 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,000 Let's go. 263 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:08,000 A strange mission up a remote river to an unknown destination where people have every reason to be hostile to us. 264 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:14,000 The whole thing feels very apocalypse now, but no one said finding Mammoth DNA was going to be a walk in the park. 265 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:21,000 Our team climbs aboard every available boat in the area, as well as a hovercraft, where Alexi, Insang and I will lead the convoy. 266 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:37,000 We're headed 120 miles north of the last outpost of civilization to a lawless frontier camp where anything could happen. 267 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000 It's a journey that will take over 10 hours up the frigid river. 268 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,000 Where we're going, there are no roads, no law, and in these summer months, no night. 269 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:03,000 This! 270 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000 This is the real Siberia. 271 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,000 We're more than 100 miles above the Arctic Circle and continuing farther north. 272 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,000 A few months from now, this trip wouldn't be possible. 273 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:19,000 This river will be frozen solid, and temperatures all across Siberia will plummet. 274 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:27,000 But in this brief window, it's possible for us to push north and to see these really remote parts of Russia. 275 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:35,000 There are hundreds of miles of untouched wilderness laid out in front of us like a carpet. 276 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:42,000 And we're the only people around to appreciate its stunning beauty. 277 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:52,000 The farther north we go, the colder it gets, and the reality of our isolation begins to set in. 278 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,000 Looks like we've got a little weather moving in. 279 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Cloud cover and a couple spots of rain. 280 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Up here, the weather changes instantly as storms sweep across 3,000 miles of tundra. 281 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,000 And that isn't all we have to worry about. 282 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Brian and Josh. 283 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 Yeah, what's the matter? 284 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,000 I don't know, he's checking the engine. 285 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 It just seems like something's not working. 286 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Can we turn around? 287 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,000 What happened to you? What's the problem? 288 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,000 Yeah, they're not moving. 289 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,000 Yeah, the engine. 290 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 This is the wrong part of the world to get stranded. 291 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,000 We don't have the resources or the time to waste. 292 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Any delay, and we might have to abandon our mission. 293 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000 I think we've got a town. We're having some engine trouble. 294 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:02,000 On our quest for mammoth DNA in northern Siberia, our convoy is heading up the Yana River, 295 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000 bound for a remote region where grey market ivory hunters 296 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000 have reportedly discovered pristine ice age remains. 297 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,000 But now, one of our boats has conked out 100 miles from the nearest town. 298 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,000 What's going on? 299 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000 I think we've broken down. We're having some engine trouble. 300 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,000 This is like my big sphere out here, because if this boat breaks down and can't be restarted, 301 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,000 we don't have a lot of room to absorb passengers and gear into the other boats. 302 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,000 We're basically running fully loaded, and so it just causes a problem 303 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,000 that basically jeopardizes the whole mission at this point. 304 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,000 Brian, Danny. 305 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,000 We're going to have to leave you guys here, I think. This is where we park company. 306 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 It's been a real honor working with you. 307 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000 I know you've got room in there. 308 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 Look, we're going to send a party back in the spring for you guys, okay? 309 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,000 You just got to get through the winter. 310 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,000 While kidding aside, losing a boat at this point could doom the whole expedition. 311 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,000 We're days from the nearest mechanic. 312 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,000 Then, we catch a break. 313 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Yes! 314 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000 Yes! 315 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000 We're not freezing to death. 316 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Guys, I was never really going to leave you here. 317 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,000 I was going to leave you here. 318 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,000 Okay, back on the way. Let's do it. 319 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000 Back on the road. 320 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,000 Woo! 321 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000 There we go! 322 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,000 No sooner do we get going again than the sky changes to match our mood. 323 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Once again, we're sailing through the 24-hour sunshine on the hunt for mammoth DNA. 324 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,000 After nearly 11 hours, we're completely off the grid, 325 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:57,000 out of touch with the rest of the world, and fast approaching a place that's determined to stay that way. 326 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,000 That looks like the other camp right there. There's a boat there. 327 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,000 So, I think that's where we're going. 328 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Unigut. Not a town or a village. 329 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Just a ragged collection of campsites in the Siberian wilderness, 330 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,000 where treasure hunters dig for valuable mammoth ivory, 331 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,000 and they don't take kindly to strangers. 332 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Hey guys, we're going to stay in the boats here. 333 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,000 Let's let Alexei and Simian go up into the camp and talk with these guys. 334 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,000 I think the best move is for us to stay put, okay? 335 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Copy that. 336 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Okay, Alexei? 337 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Let's go. 338 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,000 It's up to you now. 339 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,000 We're back. 340 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,000 Okay. 341 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Okay. 342 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,000 I think the Russian guys are coming down right now. 343 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,000 Oh yeah, I see dudes. There's dudes up there. 344 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,000 Yeah. 345 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000 We're in the subdued up there in the trees, kind of starting to poke their heads out. 346 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,000 It's at year nine o'clock. 347 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:55,000 I think they're actually coming down. 348 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,000 There you go. 349 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,000 Got them, got them, got them. 350 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,000 These guys are coming out to meet the mammoth. 351 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Alexei and Simian negotiate with the ivory hunters for safe passage. 352 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000 The wrong word in this situation could turn very dangerous. 353 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,000 It's really up to Alexei and Simian to kind of work their magic, 354 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:26,000 because I don't know if these guys would actually say yes to something like this. 355 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,000 It'd be very surprising if they actually let us film them at all. 356 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,000 Right? 357 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,000 Right? 358 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000 It takes long minutes, but eventually. 359 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,000 We are welcome here. 360 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,000 They permitted us to stay here, but it's only a problem that they have a request 361 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000 not to show their faces in our film. 362 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000 Okay, they don't want to be identified. 363 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,000 Yeah, they don't want to be identified. 364 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,000 Okay, that's fine. 365 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:58,000 Looks like we're in. 366 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,000 The ivory hunters have allowed us into Unigam, and we have their permission to stay. 367 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000 But my sense is that most of them aren't people persons, 368 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:14,000 so we on mode our gear quickly and make our way into the main camp without trying to socialize. 369 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,000 These guys got a little village going in here. 370 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,000 We're clearly in the right place. 371 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:26,000 In this particular campsite, there are four or five hunters who've been living here for the past two months. 372 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,000 They fashioned a crude dining room, a kitchen, and to my surprise, a homemade sauna. 373 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,000 We set up our tents at the edge of the site, hoping to get some much needed shut up. 374 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Morning comes quickly in Siberia, especially when there's no night, 375 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 but our crack team is ready to tackle the big day. 376 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,000 Where am I? 377 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,000 Where am I? 378 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,000 Oh! 379 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,000 I see a carabin if I wear it out. 380 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Where am I? 381 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:23,000 To finally reach the Unigam dig site, we have to cross from the camp to the other side of the Yana River. 382 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Even this close, I have no idea what this ivory dig site is going to look like. 383 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,000 Nothing like this has ever been documented before. 384 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000 We're way off script. 385 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,000 Looks like we're coming into some sort of bay. 386 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,000 I see stuff over there in the banks. 387 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,000 You see that? 388 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000 There's some people over there. 389 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000 I can't tell how many there are. 390 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,000 At long last, Unigam, the mother load for Siberian tusk hunters. 391 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:53,000 Here we are. 392 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000 I'm not sure where, but we're here. 393 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Out on the edge of nowhere, we discover an astonishing site. 394 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,000 Dozens of boats and crude platforms that have been converted into pumping barges. 395 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Filming is touch and go because now we're in the company of more than 50 tusk hunters 396 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,000 from Canada, the largest in the world. 397 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,000 There's a lot of eyes on us and most of them are suspicious. 398 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,000 So I think it's like no faces, right? 399 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,000 Either cut them off the head or we'll throw a blurt out if they'll give us permission. 400 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,000 But I don't think any of this stuff is on the books, you know? 401 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,000 Yeah. 402 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:35,000 Gas generators feed water into fire hoses that snake up the beach and into the surrounding woods. 403 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,000 These are the tools that we use to make the water flow. 404 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:44,000 We follow the hoses like breadcrumbs into the forest, eager to see where it all leads. 405 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,000 There's about, I don't know, 10 fully pressurized fire hoses on this side of the bank, 406 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000 seven or eight on this side all leading up valley. 407 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,000 We're here to see where the tusk hunters are. 408 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,000 We're here to see where the tusk hunters are. 409 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000 We're here to see where the tusk hunters are. 410 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,000 We're here to see where the tusk hunters are. 411 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:05,000 Up valley. 412 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:14,000 We hike through torrents of water rushing back down toward the beach. 413 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,000 And eventually get to the end of the line. 414 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,000 What we find is both breathtaking and horrifying. 415 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000 Oh my God! 416 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:30,000 In northern Siberia, my quest for mammoth DNA has brought me to a quasi-legal mining operation 417 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,000 built to unearth ancient mammoth ivory from the permafrost. 418 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Where are you guys from? 419 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:41,000 So, Josh, this is a tunnel so we can go inside here. 420 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000 Oh my God! 421 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,000 We've arrived at the northern Siberia. 422 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,000 Oh my God! 423 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,000 We've arrived at our destination to find the earth gourd open. 424 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:02,000 Now we suit up to enter a realm of ice, bone, darkness and danger. 425 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,000 It's huge! 426 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000 In a long career of traveling to risky locations, 427 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:18,000 these tunnels are without a doubt the single most dangerous place I have ever set foot. 428 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000 Waterfalls of ice age mud and gravel roar out of the tunnels 429 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,000 as the fire hoses continuously blast into the hills. 430 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,000 None of the passages are structurally reinforced 431 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:33,000 and millions of pounds of ice hang precariously overhead. 432 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000 Look at this place. 433 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,000 We carefully walk to the back of the tunnel looking for preserved remains. 434 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000 It's Simeon who makes the first catch and it's a doozy. 435 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,000 Josh! 436 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:53,000 I think it's a mammoth excrements. 437 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,000 That's mammoth poop? 438 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,000 I think so. 439 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,000 What? 440 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000 We are so lucky. 441 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000 You can smell it. 442 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,000 You can smell it. 443 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Yeah, I can smell it. Why did I do that? 444 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,000 I'm so happy. 445 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,000 I've never seen a guy so happy to find poop before. 446 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,000 It might be gross, but it's also a big deal. 447 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:25,000 This is only the second time that an intact mammoth dropping has been found in permafrost. 448 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:31,000 It's a very important scientific example for extracting mammoths in the near of these mammoths. 449 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:36,000 We can look at what these mammoths ate and many other information. 450 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000 Much more rare find compared with bone. 451 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,000 That's amazing. That's really cool. 452 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,000 The scale of what is going on out here is extraordinary. 453 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Basically, all through this valley you've just got claim after claim. 454 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:04,000 Different tusk hunters that are using their own fire hoses to just blast away permafrost. 455 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,000 And so, Simeon, Alexi, Insung and I, we're just going from site to site, 456 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000 trying to see what these guys have found, 457 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,000 trying to determine if there's any DNA worth collecting. 458 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,000 The tunnels are claustrophobic and in a constant state of disintegration. 459 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,000 One tunnel entrance gives way right next to my cameraman Evan. 460 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Is this one? 461 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:39,000 We enter each tunnel with great trepidation and we assess the samples as quickly as possible. 462 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,000 Stay too long and we risk becoming additions to the bone pipe. 463 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,000 Hammer of reindeer. 464 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:46,000 Reindeer. 465 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,000 The reindeer bones stay. We only have eyes for the mammoth. 466 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,000 Okay, no samples in there. 467 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,000 But if one cave doesn't have what we're looking for, there are hundreds more. 468 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:01,000 Oh, Josh. 469 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:02,000 What is it? 470 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,000 That's a neck bone. Neck bone of mammoth. 471 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,000 Neck bone of mammoth. 472 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,000 Neck bone of mammoth. 473 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,000 Neck bone of mammoth. 474 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,000 One of the few vertebrates. 475 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,000 Neck bones, huh? Of the vertebrae. 476 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,000 Oh, look at that. 477 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000 We each drag our finds into the clearing to evaluate what we've got. 478 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,000 Oh my God. 479 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,000 This is a skull of a woolly rhinoceros. 480 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Woolly rhinoceros. 481 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,000 Woolly rhinoceros. 482 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000 Look at the teeth. 483 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:39,000 In this area, the tusk hunters have found a particularly rich vein of mammoth remains. 484 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:46,000 We're anxious to get a look inside, but before we even get a chance to ask, the ivory hunter is sounding an alarm. 485 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,000 Okay. 486 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,000 Ah! 487 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,000 Tusk! 488 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,000 Tusk! 489 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,000 Go, go, go! Get in there. Go, go, go ahead, go ahead. 490 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000 Where? Where is it? 491 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,000 There! 492 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,000 Ha-ha! Look at that! Look at that! 493 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,000 The North Side of Siberia 494 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:23,000 On the northern edge of Siberia, our trek into man-made ice tunnels to find mammoth DNA has been difficult and dangerous. 495 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,000 But it seems like we've caught a lucky break. 496 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,000 Yeah! Mama's tough! 497 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000 You got a tough one. 498 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,000 Good. That's it. 499 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,000 Where? Where is it? 500 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:36,000 There! 501 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:37,000 Ha-ha! 502 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,000 Look at that! Look at that! 503 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,000 The big one. 504 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,000 Ha-ha! 505 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,000 It's right here. 506 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Look at this thing. 507 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:45,000 Yeah. 508 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,000 Wow. 509 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,000 In tact, he just knocked it out of the ice. 510 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 They're well preserved according to the color that we see right now. 511 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,000 This tusk is an amazing find. 512 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:02,000 It's why this entire camp is here and why the ground is being turned into Swiss cheese. 513 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:08,000 If we can get the tusk out of the ice quickly, we might be able to get a DNA sample before the hunters claim it. 514 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:10,000 Oh! 515 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,000 Yeah, it's falling. 516 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,000 The ceiling is going to come down on us. 517 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,000 We're going to be well preserved here still when the ceiling comes down. 518 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Let's see if we can get it out before this whole thing comes down. 519 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,000 Because it's loosened up all this stuff now with the hose. 520 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000 Okay, real careful, yeah? 521 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000 We don't want to break this thing. 522 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,000 Okay, let's try to get it out of here. 523 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Here we go. 524 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000 Alexi, I got a present for you. 525 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,000 Oh my God. 526 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:38,000 What do you think? 527 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,000 Unbelievable. 528 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:40,000 Yeah? 529 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,000 Excellent find. 530 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:42,000 Beautiful preservation. 531 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:48,000 The clock is ticking and the tusk is slippery, awkward and weighs well over 100 pounds. 532 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:53,000 It's crucial to get it out in one piece to protect any DNA inside. 533 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:59,000 Also, a tusk this intact could be worth up to $50,000 to the miners. 534 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,000 Chances are, they aren't just going to let us walk away with this thing. 535 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:05,000 Okay. 536 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000 Adult man, pull your mammoths. 537 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:08,000 Incredible. 538 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,000 How old do you think this is? 539 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,000 We can estimate now it's 30,000, 40,000 years ago. 540 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,000 Incredible. 541 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,000 This is really good because this tusk has been preserved very well. 542 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,000 This is a very good sign, especially for this Uningen site. 543 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,000 Can you pull DNA out of this? 544 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,000 Sure. 545 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,000 Very good material for affecting all the other things. 546 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,000 Very good material for affecting all DNA. 547 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:31,000 That's definitely a good start. 548 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,000 We've got a piece of the puzzle. 549 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,000 Great find. 550 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:40,000 It takes some delicate negotiating for permission to take a discrete sample, but we get our 551 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,000 specimen and immediately put it on ice with the other finds. 552 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:47,000 Alexi and Simeon believe we may have just found what we came for. 553 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,000 With our cooler full of mammoth DNA, we're ready to go. 554 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:58,000 But before we can leave, our tusk hunting hosts step in our way. 555 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:03,000 Everything with these guys has been precarious, so I'm a little concerned when I see the main 556 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,000 hunter descend into a makeshift cellar to grab something. 557 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:07,000 What are they getting? 558 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,000 Everything, right? 559 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,000 We toast. 560 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:17,000 The scientists to our successful mammoth mission, the hunters to a profitable day, and me to the 561 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,000 hope that we don't all go blind here. 562 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,000 Cheers. 563 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,000 Cheers. 564 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,000 What are you eating? 565 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,000 Tea. 566 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,000 Tea. 567 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Tea. 568 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,000 Tea. 569 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,000 Tea. 570 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Tea. 571 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,000 Tea. 572 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:30,000 Tea. 573 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:31,000 Tea. 574 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,000 Tea. 575 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,000 Tea. 576 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:34,000 Tea. 577 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,000 Tea. 578 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,000 Tea. 579 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:37,000 Tea. 580 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,000 Tea. 581 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:39,000 Tea. 582 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Tea. 583 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:41,000 Tea. 584 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,000 Here's a little travel tip. 585 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,000 Don't drink with Russians. 586 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,000 They will outpace you. 587 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:58,000 It's a new day. 588 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:03,000 I've got a splitting headache, and we load our precious cargo onto the boats. 589 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:10,000 It's a 10-hour ride to Badagai, then a flight to the city of Yakutsk, where we're bringing 590 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:15,000 our specimen to the lab of the Northeastern Federal University. 591 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:21,000 To prepare our samples for testing, we slip on sterile gloves, and it's a good thing. 592 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,000 First up is the mammoth poop. 593 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,000 That is one big pilot. 594 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:30,000 We only need a tiny piece of it for DNA extraction. 595 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,000 I wish I could tell you this is the first time I've had to put poo in a bottle, but it's 596 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,000 not even the first time this season. 597 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Nice. 598 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,000 There we go. 599 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:50,000 We then prep the marrow from the Badagai crater, along with our other finds from Unigine. 600 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,000 Bones check, poop check. 601 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,000 We got it. 602 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,000 No, we have another sample. 603 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,000 Even another sample? 604 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:56,000 Upstairs. 605 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:57,000 Yes. 606 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,000 Please. 607 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,000 Alexei has been holding out on me. 608 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,000 He has one more mammoth specimen on ice for testing. 609 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:07,000 He leads me into a Sub-Zero storage room to retrieve it. 610 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,000 Strong smell. 611 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,000 Yeah. 612 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,000 What is this? 613 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,000 Excellent specimen. 614 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,000 It's a trunk of mammoths. 615 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,000 Are you kidding me? 616 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:14,000 No. 617 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,000 That is so incredible. 618 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,000 First time in the history of the anthology. 619 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,000 The complete trunk of the mammoths. 620 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,000 This is the tip of the trunk. 621 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000 Look at the preservation on it. 622 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:26,000 With wool. 623 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,000 With wool. 624 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:28,000 The wool of the woolly mammoth. 625 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,000 You're looking at the best preserved trunk of a woolly mammoth ever found. 626 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:37,000 These remains were discovered by Simeon and his team on an island off the coast of Siberia. 627 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,000 That is incredible. 628 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,000 And is this more of it here? 629 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,000 Oh my God. 630 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,000 This is a leg. 631 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000 This is a leg. 632 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,000 Look at that. 633 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,000 This is a belly. 634 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,000 It's huge. 635 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,000 Look at it. 636 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,000 Excellent preservation. 637 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,000 Unbelievable. 638 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:51,000 That is awesome. 639 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:58,000 When these remains were discovered a few years back, the technology to extract ancient and fragile DNA was in its infancy. 640 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,000 So this mammoth has never been fully tested. 641 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,000 Okay, let's get some DNA out of it. 642 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,000 We carefully take a small sample to add to our hull. 643 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,000 Mammoth belly. 644 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:11,000 Uh-huh. 645 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:21,000 From the freezer, we go to the genetics lab where the lead technician will prepare our specimens for DNA analysis. 646 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,000 Hello. 647 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,000 We suit up to protect our samples from contamination. 648 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,000 We don't want our Ice Age Siberian mammoth to read as a 30-something Massachusetts wise-ass. 649 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,000 Okay, so what happens now? 650 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:45,000 So we have some chemicals here, some solutions, and we're going to cut our sample into even smaller pieces. 651 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,000 So that we can decontaminate them before we actually carry on the experiments. 652 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,000 Okay, got it. 653 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:56,000 Each specimen is treated with enzymes that strip away everything except the DNA. 654 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:03,000 It's an involved process, but once she's cleaned away 30,000 years of dirt and grime, it's amazing what we find. 655 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,000 Red meat. 656 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,000 Red meat, yeah. 657 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,000 Wow, look at that. 658 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,000 Unbelievable preservation. 659 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:16,000 Each specimen is cleaned, cut, and treated, then spun in a centrifuge to isolate any DNA. 660 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:26,000 Finally, the sample is marked with dye and put on a slide so the results can be viewed in an ultraviolet scanner. 661 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:27,000 Hey, Mom, I want a truth. 662 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:28,000 Thank you. 663 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:29,000 Here we go. 664 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,000 All right. 665 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:37,000 After thousands of miles of hiking, driving, boating, climbing, and digging across Siberia, 666 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,000 we're about to learn if we've made history and can actually bring the woolly mammoth back to life. 667 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000 Okay, let's see what we got. 668 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:58,000 At a genetics lab in Siberia, I'm about to find out if we've succeeded in tracking down a complete strand of mammoth DNA. 669 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:02,000 The thing we need to actually clone the entire species back to life. 670 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:05,000 Okay, let's see what we got. 671 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,000 Okay, we got our results. 672 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,000 Okay. 673 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,000 And on the left, we see the reference. 674 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:18,000 So basically, you start at the bottom, these are the shorter strands of DNA, and then on the top, we see longer pieces of DNA. 675 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,000 So this is just a guide here. 676 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,000 Right, this is the reference. 677 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:26,000 And if we had the complete DNA of a mammoth, if we had a live cell, what would it look like? 678 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000 We'll see a line way up here. 679 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,000 Way up at the top. 680 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,000 We would have something right up here. 681 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,000 Right. 682 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:32,000 That would be kind of complete. 683 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:33,000 Right. 684 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Okay, so what have we got here? 685 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,000 These are some of the samples that you got from the Bahtagayka creator. 686 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,000 It looks like we actually got some DNA from our samples. 687 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,000 Great. 688 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:54,000 We're getting shorter pieces of DNA, so maybe 300 to 500 base pairs, which is, you know, it belongs on the shorter side of things. 689 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,000 So are these shorter strands useful at all then? 690 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,000 They're very useful for the study of paleogenetics. 691 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,000 There are two ways to try to clone a mammoth. 692 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,000 First, by using a complete intact strand of DNA. 693 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:13,000 Or, you can take shorter segments of the DNA and through genetic engineering, attempt to knit them together to create the whole genome. 694 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,000 So, we've got DNA, we're off and running. 695 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,000 Yeah, it's a good start for us. 696 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,000 Good. 697 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:21,000 Okay, let's check out the other sample. 698 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,000 Right, so these are some of the samples that we collected from Yuningen. 699 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,000 It looks like we were successful in, you know, collecting DNA from them as well. 700 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:39,000 This column here is from the tusk and it looks like this one particularly is interesting because it's, you know, it's thick. 701 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,000 The line is thick. 702 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:47,000 That means there's a lot of DNA in whatever we extracted, but it's still fragmented, but it's really good because there's a lot of DNA in it. 703 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:48,000 That's great. 704 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:49,000 That's really great. 705 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:57,000 We put the rest of our samples through the scanner with varying results, but nothing compares to our tusk when it comes to the number of base pairs. 706 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,000 And then we test the mammoth carcass from upstairs. 707 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,000 Alright, let's take a look at our next samples. 708 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,000 Oh. 709 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:09,000 That's higher. 710 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:15,000 It actually looks really great because if you compare it with the reference, it's actually above 2,000 base pairs. 711 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,000 So this is probably better than anything we've found so far. 712 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:21,000 Really? 713 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:22,000 Yeah. 714 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,000 Up to this point, what's the best sampling you've found? 715 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:31,000 So the best samples we've found so far were maybe 1,200 or 1,300 base pairs from mammoth bone marrow in previous years. 716 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:32,000 Okay. 717 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,000 But this is surpassing those results. 718 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,000 This is way above those results that we've found before. 719 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:37,000 Wow. 720 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,000 We've just seen history being made. 721 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:46,000 This sample just yielded up the highest concentration of DNA base pairs ever found in a mammoth sample. 722 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,000 But as good as it is, we've still got a ways to go. 723 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,000 This is great, maybe unprecedented, but not enough to make a mammoth. 724 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,000 This is not enough. 725 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,000 Not nearly, right? 726 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:57,000 Not nearly, not nearly. 727 00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,000 But we just have to keep trying. 728 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,000 Well, that's a hell of a start. 729 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:02,000 That's great. 730 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:03,000 Yeah, that's a great start. 731 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,000 Yeah. 732 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:05,000 We've scored a hit. 733 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,000 No, it's not a complete genetic sequence. 734 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,000 There's lots left to do. 735 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:16,000 But the information we acquired in this DNA will take us a giant step toward understanding both why the mammoth disappeared 736 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,000 and how we might be able to bring them back. 737 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:22,000 These are lessons that go far beyond the laboratory. 738 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:23,000 Thrilled to be here to see that. 739 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,000 That's really something. 740 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:25,000 Thank you so much. 741 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:26,000 You're welcome. 742 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,000 All right. 743 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:28,000 And sunk, thank you. 744 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,000 Thank you. 745 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:36,000 The woolly mammoth was once the dominant species on Earth, the original too big to fail. 746 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:43,000 But facing a rapidly changing world and with a new predator in town, the mammoth didn't stand a chance. 747 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:52,000 As I've explored the melting remains of Siberia's permafrost, it isn't hard to draw a straight line between their fate and our own. 748 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:58,000 Technology is hurling us into a future where science fiction is fast becoming fact. 749 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:02,000 To me, reviving the mammoth seems like a worthy enough endeavor. 750 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:06,000 The question is, what kind of world would a cloned mammoth be born into? 751 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:12,000 On my journey, I came face to face with the results of a man-made environmental catastrophe. 752 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:13,000 Whoa. 753 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,000 And then more witness to more destruction in progress. 754 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:26,000 I'm in awe of the dedicated scientists traveling to the edge of the world to find elusive DNA. 755 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:32,000 But if we plan to revive the dead, we've got to make an equal effort to preserve the living. 756 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:41,000 We are melting the coldest regions of our planet, and our obsession with ivory may mean the extinction of living elephants and other endangered species. 757 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:45,000 The woolly mammoth couldn't adapt, but hopefully we can. 758 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,000 The future of its species and of our own may depend on it.