The Mammoth Pirates

In Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush is under way.

With the sale of elephant tusks under close scrutiny, “ethical ivory” from the extinct woolly mammoth is now feeding an insatiable market in China. This rush on mammoth ivory is luring a fresh breed of miner – the tusker – into the Russian wilderness and creating dollar millionaires in some of the poorest villages of Siberia.

On condition that he not reveal names or exact locations, RFE/RL photographer Amos Chapple gained exclusive access to one site where between bouts of vodka-fueled chaos and days spent evading police patrols, teams of men are using illegal new methods in the hunt for what remains of Siberia's lost giants.

PART ONE

The Method

The treasure hunt began a few years ago when word spread of the fantastic sums paid for mammoth tusks by visiting "agents."

THE MAMMOTH STEPPE

The "Mammoth Steppe" was the woolly mammoth's natural habitat between 12,000 and 100,000 years ago, during the so-called glacial maximum.

3-layer-mapRUSSIAYakutsk
Source: NASA, Joshua L. Hood

PART TWO

The Money

This 65-kilogram tusk, photographed a moment after it was plucked from the permafrost, was sold for $34,000. The two men who found it unearthed three more in just over a week, including one weighing 72 kilograms.

PART THREE

The Life

Most men here will spend the entire summer away from home and family.

PART FOUR

The Damage

Ravaged landscape is the obvious result of the tusk hunters’ methods, but the impact on Yakutia’s waterways is far-reaching.

A DESTRUCTIVE PROCESS

Tuskers siphon water from nearby rivers and blast it into the permafrost, boring their way to riches.

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Wojtek Grojec, Carlos Coelho