Panthera Spelaea

The other scientists quickly gathered around the portion of the left rear paw that was barely visible. The curved, dangerous-looking claws and light fur combined with the size made the identification easy. Only a portion of the paw was exposed, but the entire paw would be the size of my head. Panthera Spelaea’s closest modern relative was the African Lion, but the Cave Lion was about twenty percent larger based on skeletons. “Incredible,” Ekatarina said. “This could be the first intact adult cave lion ever discovered if it remained preserved in this ice.”

That was true. We knew of the species coming from skeletons and from the discovery of two frozen cave lion cubs not far from here in 2016. The cubs were intact, thought to have been covered by a rockslide then locked in the permafrost. Each cub had been the size of a large house cat, while this adult would be huge. “Finding them together like this is interesting. It’s possible the lion fell through the ice first and the mammoth fell on top of it,” Nicole said. “I wonder if the Cave Lion was attacking and ended up with the Mammoth on top of him or her.”

“Anything is possible at this point. If we find bite marks in the mammoth, how cool would that be,” I said. I looked at the tiny portions of each large animal we had uncovered. The longer we sat here, the more the exposed flesh would soften and start to rot. “How should we handle this? We’ve got two incredibly valuable ice cubes here that are frozen together, and chainsaws are out of the question.” The finds were priceless.

Vitali gathered his team to discuss that, and we divided into groups. I was with the team that would be water-blasting the carcasses free of the surrounding soil. We were going to start by removing the soil at least three feet in all directions around the finds, expanding the cave until we had a colossal lump in the middle. Doing that without the water jets damaging the thawing specimens could take a day, maybe more.

The second team would start widening the cave entrance, working from the river back to us. We needed it at least five by four meters, roughly sixteen feet wide and twelve high, with the floor as flat as possible

Once both tasks were complete, the fun part would begin. We would work around underneath the mammoth, freeing it from the soil underneath and the cave lion using the smaller hoses. Releasing the specimens without damage would take a long time to do. I asked the obvious question. “How the hell are we going to pull an intact mammoth out of here without destroying the cave lion underneath? This thing could weigh six metric tons!” A metric ton was a thousand kg, roughly 2200 pounds, meaning this mammoth could weigh more than thirteen thousand pounds. That was as much as three full-sized pickup trucks!

“That will be the fun part, eh, John?” Vitali’s eyes were smiling; this would be the highlight of his career. “I will think of something. Meanwhile, you all have an easy job. I have to find a helicopter crew willing to fly out here and transport it once it is out, plus finding an open-top freezer big enough to take it!”

Let’s see; spend my time at base camp calling for help, or be up to your knees in cold water and mud for a few days? I think he was getting the better deal.

Our group got back to work, using the hoses and wands to wash the frozen dirt from over the top of the mammoth. It was slow, messy work, and after eight hours of work with a short break for lunch, I was physically exhausted. We turned over to the afternoon crew with about a quarter of the job done. We’d excavated the rear legs and about a foot up the torso. It was slow at the bottom because the bottom of the carcass was about a foot below the floor level. We decided to leave that for the end rather than creating a pool of water underneath that we’d have to stand in while doing the rest of the work.

The cave was much wider by the river, and I could see Vitali had called in more townspeople to work. There were two pumps and fire hoses working at the same time to expand the tunnel, but it was slow going. I waved at them as we passed by into the sunlight.

We were tired but happy as our group headed back to base camp. We were part of something historic, and it made everything I went through to get here worth it. Nothing in my father’s company would ever compare to the discovery I’d made today. The expedition would have been epic with only the mammoth, but it would be legendary if we recovered an intact cave lion.

“I wonder if George Church and his team could bring back the Cave Lion someday,” I said as we motored upriver.

“I don’t think a predator is a priority for the restoration of the grasslands,” Nicole replied. “It’s a pipe dream to think we’ll ever have herds of wooly mammoths roaming the tundra again.”

“What do you mean?” I’d worked with the team, and it was exciting. “The theory is that the African elephant is close enough genetically that you could make forty or so DNA edits and get an animal that is very similar to the wooly mammoth we just found. The better the samples, the easier it is to map the genome.”

Nicole just shook her head. “What killed the mammoths, Mr. Cantwell?”

“The prevailing theory is human overhunting,” I replied. “Although the changing climate conditions would also stress the existing herds.”

“I’m a pessimist because adult mammoth tusks are worth so much, and it’s so easy to kill and take them. We’re fighting to sustain African Elephant populations in the face of the black market ivory trade. Poachers are wiping rhinos out because powdered rhino horn as a supposed cancer treatment makes it as valuable as gold. People are here, and they can kill mammoths faster than we can grow replacements.”

The depressing thing was that she was right. “It won’t be easy, but first we have to create them, then get enough to create a self-sustaining population. Still, how much would you love to see a herd of them grazing again? Or seeing a cave lion pacing about, even in a zoo? I would retire a happy man if that happened.”

Dinner was waiting for us when we got back to base camp. After wolfing down my meal, I returned to my tent and removed my sweaty clothes and put on sleeping clothes. I downloaded the photographs and measurements I'd made onto my laptop, then got into my sleeping bag.

I'd need rest for our next shift.