Watch Next: Bakhmut has become a bloody vortex at the center of Ukraine's fight against invading Russian forces. With thousands dead after months of constant Russian attacks, the city is barely standing. - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z9KgmJSAzKnGc40.html

The title of this video feels like it comes from a parallel universe where woolly mammoths never went extinct

Humans are weird as hell.

"It's nothing serious, just a fracture." A true Russian

Seeing fossils being blasted and destroyed like that is so sad, we’re still researching and finding so much and now it’s being just being washed away, who knows what secrets could have been uncovered.

Your guy has a pretty great Russian pronunciation. You should be proud of him.

The demand of living elephants ivory just isn't enough, now they have to dig up the ivory from long dead elephants.

What I want to know is how is this guy not showing any suffering from mosquitoes.

I find the various comments quite interesting. Working in this field of science over the last 3 decades I find that most viewpoints were some what biased and misinformed. We know that mammoth tusks have been found for over three centuries by the hundreds of thousands. There is no rarity or lack of supply for their procurement commercially or for scientific research. Many individual collectors will pay in the thousands of dollars for collection cabnet examples. The Chinese are driving prices up dramatically for their use in carved ivory trade in jewelry and artistic decorative forms. This fossil trade relieves the demand for the living species ivory trade and will help reduce the slaughter that unfortunately is still driven by the demand for local Bush meat in Africa. It's counter productive to restrict active collecting of these specimens and certainly does not endanger the livelihood of an extinct species or their living relatives. Clearly many universities and scientific research organizations are studying mammoth tusks and frozen carcasses for DNA and pathology studies like those in Russia, Japan, Germany and the USA. The University of Michigan's program under their fine world class paleontology department is a leader in mammoth tusk research. The greatest threat imposed by the passionate and commercially oriented collectors is how they are changing the environment by using high pressure water dredging on the Siberian topography. Also many other important vertebrate remains are frequently overlooked by these teams as many do not have qualified professional paleontologists to scrutinize what being discarded. There are many vertebrate taxa that are equally if not more important that may be discovered in these sediments. Also it clear that even if it were possible to save every scrap of bone from these collection areas they would easily fill every major museum in the world. Unfortunately these institutions are cash strapped and undertaking such a challenge would be economically disastrous. There is just too little funding. So this science is between a rock and a hard place financially. At best it would be reasonable to set up a partnership with the commercial collectors and the scientific community. This commercial fossil industry is certainly far from perfect but until the general public realizes that some research on this material is better than the alternative, leaving vertebrate fossil to disintegrate in the open elements and ignore them as a scientific resource completely. It's better to reach a goal for creating a working relationship with these companies and salvage what is reasonable and possible economically. Many commercial fossil collecting companies have striven to partner with various professionals in this science. I really enjoyed the video and hope more like it are offered to the public..

I'm completely speechless on what's going on here. This raw footage of what this journalist is showing, is yet so important but people aren't aware of...

Yes it is a shame that so much artifacts are being lost. There must be a way to allow the local people to benifit from the finds while preserving the relics of value.

Let's face it, Vice is not what it used to be, but God damn if this wasn't easily one of the best, unique, and just cool stories they've done in my recent memory. Good work.

This was so interesting to watch and learn about, and the footage was so good. Something I had never even thought about before.

this, to me, is a good enough reason not to "bring back" the wooly mammoth; they would just be poached into extinction.

if its destructive to the earth, china always has a hand in it😂

Original, concerning and splendidly filmed. Whoa those tusks!

Human greed and depravity never ceases to amaze me.

Well Mammoths will become extinct again from poaching if they are ever brought back...

The guy with the mosquito net mask over his face is looking at the reporter from Vice like 🤷‍♂️ what were you thinking ?

I'm waiting for the Mammoth clone

Depressing to see

I cant believe the vice guy went inside that tunnel Haha that thing is ready to collapse. Thats how they clean out the huge freezers in processing plants.. The cameraman well he always survives

The way he talks about the first discovery and how they knew it was different because “it wasn’t like a Sabre’s” makes me want to know about the Sabre-toothed trade now…

I've followed Alec on social media forever. Great to finally see him in action and hear his voice.

this is sad and amazing at the same time

If this were in America the title would have been " How woolly mammoth tusks are supporting the local economy by creating jobs "

Imagine bringing Electric Mosquito Swatter to there... satisfaction!

This mob mentality we are living through is so sad in so many ways. Humanity could be doing so much more.

Interesting to see that the scientists and mammoth hunters are working together on this issue. It of course should be regulated to mitigate environmental damage, but I understand why people are driven to this kind of work - there aren't many good opportunities in many parts of Russia to make a good living. I only hope that going forward there can be some sort of agreement whereby science can be advanced, the past can be preserved, and mammoth hunters can still make a living.

That's not hunting. This is how gold was recovered in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains in the 1800's. It's called "hydraulic mining"

all I could think of disease, unknown disease.

5:36 That's an amazingly preserved mammoth head why isn't this in a museum?

Wonderful presentation, rich knowledge

It is fascinating to see the large megafauna uncovered by this tundra thaw but just imagine what's being lost. For Example: there's pollen in every inch of soil, we can tell what plants were thriving in which layers, and compare that to the dates of different events and establish major ecological events of the past relating to forest fires or undersea currents changing. CURRENTLY we have that technology, but the context is all lost if the ground is partially ice and the ice melts ruining the layers/seriation. So we're losing untold mass amounts of ancient data from the thawing and we're losing "whatever" the future could have created new technology to study, the stuff we can't conceive of finding in archaeology yet is also being lost.

They are brave going out there digging up all this old diseases....

Damn. Vice out here doing the most. Wish my FBI did the same for me. :( very informative btw. Keep up this hard work.. people enjoy it.

The Cinematography on this is insane I was thinking for a youtube channel but does 7M subs equal million dollar budgets? Just so brilliant, would love to see an hour of how this was organised and filmed and what gear. B E A utiful!

I gotta give it up to vice on this one. Not only was this a top notch and interesting story, but you managed to bring up climate change without getting political or obsessing over it. Thank you for a real journalistic story

Really interesting reporting. Vice did a good job on this one.

Excellent video. Rich knowledge

This overview is well done: slow, clear, scientific and interesting ....

The level of ignorance in this trade is not only mind-numbing, but it furthers my loss of faith in humanity to ever do the right thing for the future of Mother Earth and ALL lifeforms who inhabit her.

This is horrible. Maybe the best most important specimens ever found. Are in the illegal trade. Never to be seen by public eyes. Horrible

That boy Erel snapped with that Nike cap 💯💯💯💯💯💯❗❗❗❗

That mammoth skull with the fur still on it 🤩

Very well done piece, thanks Vice!

Is anyone going to talk about how fucked this is, just the fact that their digging through already melting ice, the tunnels they dig are exposing the bottom part of the ice to the outside Heat and now it’ll not only melt from the outside now but from the inside too, you just gotta love the domino effects, oh us humans.

On the coast here we find tusks all the time. Especially after a storm.

The animals were frozen during one catastrophic temperature plummeting event. You won't convince me that the animals died and laid there to freeze without being scavenged. The permafrost was never meant to be as it was only formed during the aftermath of a super volcano mega eruption. It created a wintertime that lasted years.

As a South African I am actually so happy they are doing this because maybe it will save our living Elephants or Rhinos from disgusting poachers who kill unbelievably beautiful animals for their tusks/horns.This market while destructive is not killing anything and possibly even saving animal lives for now.

Imagine they find a caveman frozen in time

This was a good one vice

I want some 1911 grips, but they range around $400-$500. Definitely an expensive luxury.

This is actually really amazing and tbh I've seen Shark and Megalodon Teeth hunted for in a similar manner in Florida. I mean they take the risk to locate these amazing finds that would never be seen if not for them so I guess I don't see an issue with it. Many rare items are located this way all over the world. Minus the personal risk they take these items would just be swallowed up by the earth if not for their perilous job. But I agree the so called scraps they throw away should all be donated to science, universities, and museums none of this should be wasted that is sad nobody can find a few dimes to fund this.

Wow this looks exactly like where I grew up in the Northwest Territories, Canada

At the end of the day most of you guys just want to feed your families I like the fact that all this cool stuff is being brought to life so to speak

The wildest part is that landscape. I think everyone's entitled to work together to make the most out of the valuable resources that are being reposited. Nobody will be able to dig those in situ anyway. Those sculpted tusks were some works of art too. It looks like it's devastating the land for now, but I do believe it's also returning a vast amount of minerals and resources to the surrounding environment. It's just going to take time for it to find it's equilibrium again.

At least its not gonna lost forever.

But where’s the squirrel???

So much research should be done in locations like this. Right?

its hard to imagine an elephant or a wooly mammoth roaming the frozen expanse of siberia...so crazy

The single layer deposition suggests a bloat and float situation. Does anyone know if a carbon date has ever been done?

"CHINAH" *trumps voice*

I just love vice

I love when thumb nails have the wrong pick. That’s a horn not a tusk

The mammoths died all at once in a massive blast that killed everything. Possibly by our Suns micro nova. We're due for another one soon.

I understand the wrongs in all this but those tusk Ivories are gorgeous. Amazing skill by those craftsmen

I hope many of the mammoth 🦣 tusks and other prehistoric bones and fossils manage to get to museums.

Fascinating!

"it's nothing serious, just a fracture" A RUSSIAN GUY

Honestly I don’t see what’s wrong with this? Meeting the demand for ivory without having to take the lives of living elephants

This is good vice

Thanks.

The scientists should go along with them on their digs and just take the "offcuts". The miners need to make money so might as well work with them. Crazy that the bones of these other "worthless" animals are just getting washed away into the river

At least they don't kill live elephants just for tusks...

5:34 Just look at it, thats amazing!

I had a mammoth ivory jewelry pendant before very beautiful stuff

STALKER in real life, instead hunting relics it hunts ancient tusk

They could sell animal skulls too, especially saber tooth tiger skulls. I want one.

the hectic erosion of the permafrost stresses me out

I remember reading that some Siberian hunters found mammoth remains in the 19th century the frozen meat was fresh looking & the hunters gave it to their dogs to eat.

In any case, those bones will end up in the river when everything melts. So at least someone should get enriched from those bones.

Yeah, I wonder who buys this super expensive and ancient ivory. Probably the same people who eat fish eggs to extinction. 🤣 Classy.

Long bows would have done well in the Revolutionary War. It was even suggested but the amount of training and strength needed was too much to be implemented in a short amount of time.

I should be getting ready for work, why am I watching these at 6am?

It’s terrible. But I can also appreciate that when they find something unique or that they deem special, they have enough respect for the history to donate it to researchers.

"It's nothing serious, just a fracture" - The most Russian thing I've heard today

Respect to all Hustlers 🔥

That Skull with tissue and hair at 5:34 looks unreal. Like the mammoth died 2 months ago. Even the ears and eyelids, etc. are still visible.

They are wasting the oppurtunity there's a market for saber tooths

Should use that money for engineers to buttress those caves

So interesting!!!!

Man I would love to have the tusk in the thumbnail

Incredible scientific and historical finds being destroyed for greed.

We find these in the Arkansas River too. People get mad at us for removing them but they will be eroded by the river and lost forever if we don’t.

Alaska also has a wolly mammoth tusk trade right here in america you can buy them.

Молодцы, показали как есть. И пусть хоть кто то скажет что тут нет коррупции

The distraction is just horrendous

Why is it illegal tho? The reason elephant tusks are illegal for sale/trade or to own is because people were poaching the elephants for their tusks. Not like these people are poaching the woolly mammoths or something... I'm genuinely curious.

2:49 This place looks like in the dark series🤯