[Narrator] Thousands of years ago
on a sand dune on this island a rare mammoth laid itself down to rest for the last time.
Mammoths, which are thought to be prehistoric elephants once roamed North America
but only on these islands did the pygmy or dwarf mammoth evolve. Its existence is as
much a mystery as its disappearance. How did they get here? What caused their extinction?
Little is known for certain but four people want to change that. They hope to
unearth a complete skeleton of a pygmy mammoth. Something that to this day has never been done.
In August 1994 four scientists leave Ventura, California on route to Santa Rosa Island,
the second largest of the Channel Islands. The team of scientists hoped to be the first to excavate a
complete skeleton of a pygmy or dwarf mammoth. The fascination with prehistoric elephants is
centuries old. In 1797 Thomas Jefferson sent out a call for a complete skeleton of a mammoth. At the
time only scattered remnants had been collected. A great number of explorers set out to fulfill
his wishes. All failed. Now some 200 years later these four scientists are embarking on a journey
to answer Thomas Jefferson's call. Don Morris is a National Park Service
archaeologist stationed on the Channel Islands.
For this excavation he called on the leading mammoth experts in the country.
[Don Morris] Larry Eggenbroad is a paleontologist
with considerable experience and expertise in this species, in mammoth.
[Larry Eggenbroad] I'm really intrigued that you know of all the people who could have found
this animal that Tom Rockwell found it because he was studying the geology the, the context
in which this animal was found. Louise Roth is also involved in the project and
she is one of the leading mammoth biologists in the country.
She's probably measured more pygmy mammoth bones than any other person alive.
[Narrator] After a three-hour boat trip the excavation team arrives
at Santa Rosa Island.
[Larry] This critter has been my life ever since Tom found it, just before the Fourth
of July, you know this is the payoff. We got people here, we're starting to work
uh it's all coming together and i've been ecstatic ever since we got on the island.
We couldn't just say "oh gee that's nifty we found this. Let's take a picture and
go home and write up a report." This was something that we had to react to. Sitting
on the slope it's weathering, it's vulnerable to damage, it's vulnerable to vandalism.
we thought "this has to come out right away". Well this means going home
and finding the money right at the end of the fiscal year to get a project
together to do this. Getting the people to do it. making it all come together.