GCPRH6 Columbian Mammoths of the Guadalupe River Basin (Earthcache) in California, United States created by bullit

This cache has been archived.

bullit: Still no news on the bones. I'll archive this and hope that it can be unarchived if they are ever put on display.

GCPRH6 ▼

A cache by bullit Message this owner

Hidden : 7/18/2005

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Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

This is the site of a recently discovered Columbian Mammoth skeleton along the Guadalupe River.

It's a short flat walk along an established public levee trail. The site can be viewed from the levee or you can walk down a small access road to get closer. The site is enclosed by fencing but there is a small observation platform to view the fossils. Handicache rating is H13111.

The Columbian Mammoth, (Mammuthus columbi ) was a descendant of Mammuthus meridionalis (Mammuthus meridionalis ) the ancestral mammoth that entered North America via the Bering Land Bridge about one million years ago. The Columbian mammoth ranged from Alaska, and the Yukon, across the mid-western United States south into Mexico and Central America. Huge, standing almost 14 foot at the shoulder (420 cm), and weighing 8-10 tons, the Columbian mammoth could consume about 700 pounds of vegetation a day. The life span for a Columbian mammoth was 60 to 80 years.

Mammoths first arrived in California from South America about 2 million years ago. They were abundant in Northern California, thriving in the rich, wet grasslands common during the centuries of mild weather between ice ages.

Probably hairless, Columbian mammoths were cousins of the more familiar woolly mammoths, which were native to colder northern regions. They suddenly disappeared, around the time early man arrived, for reasons that remain mysterious.

This particular animal lived during the late Pleistocene epoch(1.8 million to ~10,000 years ago) and was exposed by dredging or rushing water from the winter rains. The bones will be excavated and moved to the Museum of Paleontology at UC Berkeley.

This is the most complete mammoth skeleton ever found in Santa Clara County. Long ago, a fractured mammoth pelvis was found in the county, but the details are unknown. Tens of thousands of fossil fragments -- of mammoths, camels, saber-tooth cats and other animals -- have been found in the Fremont area.

Check this site for the latest updates on the San Jose Mammoth.

Webcam

To log a find post a picture of yourself at the site or email me the number at the bottom of the depth scale on the nearby water tank(it's visible from the levee). No need to wait for a response to the email before logging it.

Pictures of the excavation site are encouraged so we can monitor the status on this cache page as well.