Ice Age death Trap (The Meltdown) - Megabeasts' (Giant ice age animals) Sudden Death (Extinction)

• published: 27 Aug 2015
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During construction in Colorado, a bulldozer dug up a tooth so huge it had to be held in two hands. This documentary reveals intimate secrets of the life and death of North America s most exotic and extreme creatures. Most tantalizing of all, the team unearths startling and controversial evidence of what may be the earliest humans ever to venture into the untamed wilderness of Ice Age America. In a race against developers in the Rocky Mountains, archaeologists 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. Why did thousands of animals die at one mountain lake? Scientists are trying to solve the mystery In October 2010, construction worker Jesse Stone was digging out a lake in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Suddenly, he noticed a mysterious object stuck in his bulldozer. Stone stopped the machine and hopped out to take a look. What he saw scared him. It was a giant jawbone. And the ground in front of Stone’s bulldozer was littered with more big, brown bones. Stone had a feeling that the bones were fossils. Scientists soon came to the scene and confirmed it. The bones were from a giant ice age animal—a woolly mammoth! Scientists decided to do some more digging in the area. Over the next 11 months, they discovered more than 27,000 fossils. The fossils came from nearly 60 species of plants and animals. They ranged from 50,000 to 130,000 years old. The excavation, known as the Snowmastodon Project, offered a rare peek into ice age life. But it also raised a big question: Why did so many animals die at this peaceful mountain lake? A RARE FIND The Snowmastodon team found fossils from bison, camels, giant sloths, snakes, salamanders, and more. They also found bones from mastodons—huge, elephantlike creatures that died out about 10,000 years ago. Fossils form when minerals replace all or part of a dead animal or plant. The lake water at Snowmass was full of dissolved minerals. The water seeped through dirt and mud to reach the dead animals and plants. When the water dried up, some minerals were left behind. It’s rare to find so many different ice age animals in one place. Scientists think that all of these animals gathered at this lake to drink, bathe, and play. And, somehow, many of them died in or near the lake. ICE AGE WIPEOUTS Studying the Snowmass fossils is helping scientists learn more about animals, plants, and weather conditions during the ice age. But a mystery remains: Why did so many animals die at this lake? Was something or someone killing them? No one knows for sure. Scientists have two main theories. Kirk Johnson, director of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., thinks that earthquakes and landslides were the cause. It’s possible that earthquakes caused landslides. Then soil mixed with water, which created quicksand. That would have sucked up nearby animals—even huge mastodons. Then the quicksand hardened, burying the animals alive. But Richard Stucky, from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, believes that the animals probably died from natural causes. Then, over time, soil washed into the lake and buried the animals’ remains. LOOKING AHEAD So far, no one can prove either theory. Scientists continue to study the fossils, looking for clues. “We may never know the answer,” says Johnson. “There might not be enough evidence to really tell the story.” The mystery may never be solved. But the fossils have made scientists realize that they need to look for fossils in places they wouldn’t have considered before. Says Stucky, “The Snowmastodon Project will change the way science is done in the future.”