A researcher from the University of Virginia has beguile the cyberspace ’s interest after shoot a immense mammoth tusk mystify out of the side of a river bank in Alaska . Emerging from the clear layers of deposit which apparently dates back to the Pleistocene epoch ( 2,580,000 to 11,700 year ago ) , the tusk was spot a couple of years ago along the Koyukuk river , near Coldfoot Alaska , and is being monitored by the University of Alaska Fairbanks .

If you look closely , you may spot the ropes that have been attach to keep the ivory from falling into the river below .

Alaska is a treasure treasure trove of woolly gigantic tusks and remains , with the mammoth being denominate theAlaska province fossil in 1986 . recollect to have go extinct around 3,600 years ago , the woolly mammoth descended from the Steppe Mammoth , which frustrate the land bridge connect what is now Russia to Alaska around 100,000 years ago .

As such , detect mammoth ivory in Alaska is not particularly rarified , but is nevertheless extraordinary . This particular one is notable for its precarious spot , but many other specimens have been name in melting ice and sometimes just lying around .

Mammoth tusks grow in level , allowing scientists an almost singular insight into the living of the mammoth by examine each individual layer . At the end of last year , a bisection of a tuskrevealed a mammoth had madean amaze 50,000 - mile ( 80,000 - kilometer ) trek across Alaska around 17,000 yr ago .

With such a Brobdingnagian number ofmammothrelics across the vast Alaskan wilderness , what should you do if you find one ? Mammoth bone is legal to keep , make into jewellery , and even take through customs ( so long as you removed it from private land with the possessor ’s consent ) . Removal of ivory from state or federally - have solid ground is blackball , though tracking such crimes is a tough job for local law enforcement . Due to its teemingness , Mammoth ivory is not specially worthful , with jewelry shop in the country pay around $ 35 - 70 per pound , according toDeseret News .

If you find one on state land , you should get hold of authority or impart it where it is .