--- title: Woolly Mammoth Discovery: Michigan Man Digs Up Bones description: A paleontologist confirmed the discovery canonical: https://time.com/4059460/michigan-woolly-mammoth-bones/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-02T15:25:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:39.968Z article:section: Science og:title: Michigan Man Accidentally Digs Up Rare Woolly Mammoth Bones og:description: A paleontologist confirmed the discovery og:url: https://time.com/4059460/michigan-woolly-mammoth-bones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35dda97573bcf37e/698866ab524fc0f44cdf4d88/mammoth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: MLIVE.COM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michigan Man Accidentally Digs Up Rare Woolly Mammoth Bones twitter:description: A paleontologist confirmed the discovery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35dda97573bcf37e/698866ab524fc0f44cdf4d88/mammoth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michigan Man Accidentally Digs Up Rare Woolly Mammoth Bones > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=5b964493-848a-4706-b41c-a1fc89248104&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Oct 2, 2015 3:25 PM UTC  University of Michigan professor Dan Fisher and a team of Michigan students work to excavate a woolly mammoth found on a farm in Lima Township, Oct. 1, 2015. University of Michigan professor Dan Fisher and a team of Michigan students work to excavate a woolly mammoth found on a farm in Lima Township, Oct. 1, 2015. Melanie Maxwell—MLIVE.COM /Landov  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Oct 2, 2015 3:25 PM UTC A Michigan farmer stumbled upon [the bones of a woolly mammoth](http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/10/wooly%5Fmammoth%5Fbones%5Ffound%5Fsout.html) this week. James Bristle was digging up a soy field near Chelsea, Mich., when an unusual bone caught his attention. At first he thought it was a mere fence post, but closer examination confirmed it was no ordinary find. “We knew it was something that was out of the norm,” Bristle [told Michigan Live](http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/10/wooly%5Fmammoth%5Fbones%5Ffound%5Fsout.html). “My grandson came over to look at it, he’s 5 years old, he was speechless.” Dan Fisher, a University of Michigan professor who studies the extinctions of mastodons and mammoths, drove out to the site and confirmed the discovery on Thursday. He said the creature was about 40 years old and was probably killed by humans, who then stashed the remains in a pond as a means of meat storage 10,100 to 15,000 years ago. The discovery is a major one. Fisher said there are only 10 sites in Michigan where such significant remains of a mammoth skeleton have been uncovered. \[[_Michigan Live_](http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/10/wooly%5Fmammoth%5Fbones%5Ffound%5Fsout.html)\] ### See Mysterious Photos of Water on the Surface of Mars  Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are a type of dark streak seen on Martian slopes and are thought to form from flow of liquid water. This image shows RSL in the Aram Chaos, acquired on Jan. 11, 2015. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  This image shows the central peak in Porter Crater, acquired on April 17, 2015. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  RSL may be due to active seeps of water. These dark flows are abundant along the steep slopes of ancient bedrock in Coprates Chasma. Acquired on Dec. 31, 2013. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  Ravines (or very large gullies) are actively forming on Mars during the coldest times of year, when carbon dioxide frost aids mass wasting. In this image, acquired on March 25, 2015, we see warm-season flows in cold-season ravines. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  An image of the southeast rim of Hale crater, acquired on Nov. 13, 2014 NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  This RSL is one of the most active sites known on Mars in the central peaks of Hale Crater, acquired on Feb. 20, 2015. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  A RSL in Raga Crate, acquired on Feb. 9, 2015. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  A surprise landslump in Melas Chasma, acquired on Jan. 15, 2014. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  An image of the southeast rim of Hale crater, acquired on Nov. 13, 2014. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  This image was acquired in southern winter over part of Asimov Crater, on March 15, 2014, showing the equator-facing slope of a deep trough inside the crater. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  RSL along Coprates Chasma Ridge, acquired on July 7, 2013. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  Seasonal flows on Palikir Crater, a warm Martian slopes, that may be caused by the flow of salty water on Mars. Acquired on March 15, 2013 NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  RSL in Juventae Chasma, acquired on Jan. 18, 2013. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  This image displays a site along a Coprates Chasma ridge shows RSL on generally north-facing slopes, acquired on Oct. 20, 2012. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  Right past the sharp, but warped rim of this ancient impact crater are deposits of winter frost, which show up as blue in enhanced color. Acquired on July 16, 2012. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  Slope features seen on a wall in Newton crater acquired on May 30, 2011. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona ## Transcript [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] My name is Stuart Brand and I was trained as an ecologist. Conservation is about to take a turn because the technology was gonna allow us to use the DNA that's in the museum specimens and fossils to bring back extinct species [ MUSIC ] The passenger pigeon was around for 6 million years. And people remembered how amazing it was that these animals darkened the sky for hours at a time. There's these stories about these giant flocks blocking out the sun. And their wings sounding louder than thunder. We developed the techniques to hunt and net these birds and basically killed them all. And then it was really gone. When I was growing up, my mother said when the last one died in 1914 it broke America's heart. It was one of the prideful things that America had to show the world, and it was gone. This book. This is essentially the bible of passenger pigeon. I am currently the lead researcher for the deextinction project to bring the extinct passenger pigeon back to life. When I say, oh, we'll bring back a passenger pigeon, everyone goes, oh, my god, that's like Jurassic Park. And no, no, it's not. Not at all. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before. Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. I don't think a pigeon is going to, you know, pluck lawyers off of toilets. No. [ SOUND ]. Aah! [ BLANK_AUDIO ] So how we're actually going to go about deextinction. Every organism has a unique code in their genes. This one would be good I think. So these are actual DNA codes. From a chunk of a passenger pigeon foot. Now, if you can get DNA, then we can actually make it into a living cell. We're going to sequence its whole genome. We're gonna build from scratch the code that is a passenger pigeon, one gene at a time. Compare it to its closest relative. [ MUSIC ] Then we're gonna introduce DNA into the living cell of a band- tailed pigeon. And when you introduce an extinct animal's egg cell into a new mother, then you've changed the game. [ MUSIC ] Which has been done. The extinct Iranian Ibex was successfully cloned. That was the first deextinction. In this particular case, the animal only lived about ten minutes, but it was a proof of concept, and with further efforts, we hope, followed by everything from the passenger pigeon to the Tasmanian tiger. It's one of the most famous human- caused extinctions in the world. Benjamin, the last Tasmanian tiger, died in 1936. It was our direct activity that caused that extinction. For me, biotech is the future of conservation because our meddling is not unnatural. It is what species do. One of the things that gotten used to is the horrifying realization that extinction is forever. 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