 | Russian miners are making a fortune by unearthing prehistoric woolly mammoth tusks preserved in the permafrost and selling them for thousands on the Asian 'ethical ivory' market. They are searching for the 'white gold.' They find it along the Yakutia river, about 4,300 miles east of Moscow. Tusks can fetch around $34,000 for 65kg. Miners also sell the tusks of woolly rhinos, worth more than their weight in gold, which are ground up to be sold as medicine in Vietnam. |
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 | Mammoths once roamed Russia's north from 400,000 years ago until their population declined at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 years ago. A few hung on outcrops of land, such as Wrangel Island, until they finally went extinct around 4,000 years ago. |
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