Santa Clara students digging for rare mammoth remains

By Staff reports

About a dozen Santa Clara students and faculty members have been painstakingly digging up the remains of two Columbian Mammoths in a dig site in Castroville, Calif.

The students are joined by faculty and students from Foothill College and San Jose State for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not only has the team been digging for the bones, but also building an irrigation system so the torrential rain storms last week wouldn't cause the dig site to flood.

The bones were initially discovered on farmland in Castroville, a city in Monterey County that is located about 60 miles south of Santa Clara. The farmer who owns the land had been  leveling his property when he exposed a large tusk.

So far, the team has uncovered about ten percent of the skeletons. Fully grown male Columbian Mammoths could grow to be up to 14 feet tall and weigh up to ten metric tons.

Along with the bones, archeologists at the site discovered hair, which scientists may be able to extract DNA from. If this is successful, this will be the first recovery of DNA from a Columbian Mammoth, and experts will be able to understand how they are related to Wooly Mammoths and elephants.