A portion of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America were previously home to mammoths. There are specimens located all throughout Canada and the United States. Mammoths dug up the earth with their curving tusks. They used them to battle and to wipe the bark off the trees. A Woolly mammoth's ears were shorter than those of a contemporary elephant. Their shorter ears, like their thick fur coat, helped keep them warm in the bitter cold. A Woolly mammoth has an undercoat of shorter hairs and an outer coat composed of exceptionally long hairs. They would stay warmer with this layering.

About North Dakota: The terrain of the state is ideal for finding bones and fossils, especially those of dinosaurs. The low elevation, lush, biologically productive ecosystems of the terrain in the past have contributed significantly to the state's rich fossil record. Because of its proximity to the Rocky Mountains, North Dakota is subject to rivers and eroding sediments that have buried animal remains for at least 80 million years.

Latest Discovery: As he scooped up a massive mound of dirt and dumped it into a dump truck, a shovel operator on the nighttime shift noticed a flash of white.  It wasn't until then that the miners realized they had discovered something unique: a 2.1-meter-long (7-foot-long) mammoth tusk that had been buried for countless years. The tusk was discovered by the miners at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, North Dakota, in an ancient streambed that was approximately 40 feet (12.1 meters) deep. The surface mine, spanning 45,000 acres (18,210 hectares), may provide up to 16 million lignite coal (14.5 million metric tons) annually. The workers halted their excavation after discovering the tusk and consulted specialists, who determined its age to be between 10,000 and 100,000 years. Jeff Person, a paleontologist with the North Dakota Geologic Survey was surprised, given the enormous machinery employed at the location, that the mammoth tusk hadn't sustained more damage.

At almost fifty pounds (22.6 kg), this ivory tusk is regarded as brittle. In an attempt to regulate how quickly it dehydrates, the paleontologists have covered it in plastic. If you move too fast, the bone can fracture and become irreparable. Other bones have been tucked into drawers after being covered in plastic. For a few months at least, the bones will be covered in plastic until the scientists find out a safe way to remove the water. Later on, the mammoth species would be identified by the paleontologists.