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Crumlin's wooly mammoth

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William Crawley | 18:07 UK time, Monday, 25 June 2007

imscn070606_02_07.jpgI spent the day at , near Crumlin. In 1986, geologists drilling for a new seam of lignite on the shores of the lough made a remarkable find. An enormous tooth was unearthed in a layer of mud above the seam of lignite. They had uncovered a tooth belonging to a that roamed in the Lough Neagh area thousands of years ago. I held the actual tooth in my hands today -- courtesy of the Ulster Museum -- as we filmed a sequence on location at the site of the discovery. Did you know that Northern Ireland was home to wooly mammoths?

Now back in Belfast, it's time for a quick change, then I'm off to the Waterfront Hall to chair annual certificate distribution ceremony.

Comments

  • 1.
  • At 09:22 PM on 25 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

So they found a tooth. You mean not a whole fossil? How can they claim it existed, then, William? It could have been the buck tooth of an exceptionally large Irish rabbit. Let's put it this way: there's as much faith required either way.

  • 2.
  • At 10:57 PM on 25 Jun 2007,
  • Darwinius wrote:

A tooth is even better evidence than a fossil, right?

  • 3.
  • At 11:05 PM on 25 Jun 2007,
  • Jen Erik wrote:

There - if only I had brushed up on my elephant jokes...

Perhaps a limerick?

There once was a mammoth from Crumlin,
Who tumbling over a drumlin,
Shouted 'In truth,
I have loosened my tooth,
And now will sport such a dumb grin'.

That's terrible... Sorry.

Interesting to know that mammoths weren't mammoth - another illusion shattered.

  • 4.
  • At 01:43 PM on 26 Jun 2007,
  • Anonymous wrote:

"Did you know that Northern Ireland was home to wooly mammoths?"

From the look of some of our politicians I'd say it is still home to some!

  • 5.
  • At 07:51 PM on 26 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

In 1997, an entire mummified Wooly Mammoth was found in the Siberian ice.
They are now trying to clone it!

According to Juraccic Park we could get the DNA from the tooth and clone our own Ulster Wooly Mammoth now that would be worth talking about.
Ulster Wooly Mammoth meets First and Deputy First Ministers at Stormont!

  • 6.
  • At 11:16 PM on 26 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

jboy- I love the conversations with God on your blog. You could turn it into a feature, actually, or even turn it into the format of the blog. Fantastic!

  • 7.
  • At 07:21 PM on 27 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

Thanks John
I have a few more will post them up
in next few days

  • 8.
  • At 02:26 AM on 28 Jun 2007,
  • Rick Hill wrote:

On the cusp of an incisive story...?

  • 9.
  • At 02:42 AM on 28 Jun 2007,
  • Freethinker wrote:

jboy - Hopefully not in this thread!

  • 10.
  • At 06:08 AM on 28 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

Freethinker- On his own blog, nitwit!

  • 11.
  • At 10:50 AM on 28 Jun 2007,
  • another nitwit wrote:

Just because he has conversations with God doesn’t necessarily make him a nitwit!!

  • 12.
  • At 07:36 PM on 28 Jun 2007,
  • wrote:

Don't worry Freethinker ..I meant on my own blog!

According to Michael Hofreiter
( The Max Planck Institute ) Mammoths lived in Europe 1.6 million years ago and then again 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch.( I think that means new or recent ice age )Bit of an age gap there I suppose they went to colder climates for their holidays in-between times.

  • 13.
  • At 10:17 PM on 01 Jul 2007,
  • Mark wrote:

This thread is growing long in the tooth. You don't like my joke? Tusk, tusk.

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