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Seattle on the west coast
of North America.

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One of the world's
most high tech cities,

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it draws thousands of workers
and visitors every day.

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But how did the very first travellers
get here

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and what would they have seen?

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When people first set foot
in the Northwest

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they were to encounter some
of the most impressive beasts

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ever seen on the continent.

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Using clues from the present
to revisit the past,

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we reconstruct life
in the far Northwest

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at the end of the Ice Age

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and discover how people and animals
came face to face

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at the edge of the ice.

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As we shall see
from evidence left behind,

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people were present
in North America 13,000 years ago.

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But how did they travel here
and where did they come from?

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The answers may lie in the northwest
region of the continent.

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In this programme we uncover clues
not only to a journey taken by people,

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but to a wilderness
that they became part of,

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a wilderness that
no longer exists.

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In doing so we get
a glimpse of the life

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and death encounters
in this corner of the continent

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at the end of the Ice Age.

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And we reveal how the Northwest offered
people a route into North America,

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which until recently
was thought impossible.

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It happened just
as the huge ice sheets

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that covered most of the continent
were breaking up,

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sometimes with a devastating impact
on the people and animals

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living in the shadow
of the ice.

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Today we can examine the evidence
of that dramatic era

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using it to recreate the landscape
and the wildlife of the distant past.

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Bones and fossils can also tell us
about the lives of the first people.

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To get a picture
of how much this region

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of the continent has changed
since the end of the Ice Age

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we must look at the present day
landscape of the Northwest.

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Today this area is home

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to some of the world's most
spectacular temperate rainforest

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ranging 2,000 miles from modern day
Seattle up into Alaska.

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The Pacific Northwest thrives on water

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more than three metres of rain falls
every year to swell the forest rivers.

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Mist and fog are as important
to these coastal forests as rain.

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All this moisture helps produce some
of the planet's tallest trees

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towering 100 metres above the ground.

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These ancient forests are one of the few
true wildernesses left in North America

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and are home to creatures
that have come to symbolise the wild.

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But these dense forests aren't
as old as you might think.

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They certainly weren't here

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at the end of the Ice Age
13,000 years ago.

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The trees were sparser then

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and mixed with open grassland.

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So were the animals that lived here
different too?

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This small town in central Oregon
has proved to be a window on the past.

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Some of the region's
most important fossil evidence

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has been unearthed beneath its streets.

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Bones like these help
to paint a picture

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of the living creatures
they belonged to.

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This was the largest grazer
in the Northwest,

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standing 4 metres at the shoulder -

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the Columbian mammoth.

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And its biggest enemy -

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the predatory scimitar toothed cat.

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As the great melt began,

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grazers and meat-eaters alike
were faced with massive change.

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Vast areas of land were transformed,

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gradually reviving after
hundreds of thousands of years

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buried under the ice.

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The glaciers we still see today
in the North West

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are mere remnants
of immense ice blankets

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that once dominated North America.

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Their sheer scale is still impressive.

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Some are several miles wide,
hundreds of metres deep.

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But now the glaciers are in retreat,

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as they have been
for over 13,000 years.

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Remarkably, some of the icebergs
set free by the melt

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consist of water frozen
tens of thousands of years ago.

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These floating fragments

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now provide a temporary resting place
for harbour seals and their pups.

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Imagine these glaciers
at their peak.

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It's thought they covered half
the continent

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in layers almost 2 miles deep.

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When the planet starting warming up,

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the ice sheets melted,

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usually over thousands of years.

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But this process wasn't always
slow and gradual.

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This scarred landscape

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was created by one
of the biggest flash floods

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the world has ever seen.

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The waters from that flood scoured deep
into the bedrock,

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and sculpted canyons such as these
in Washington State.

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These cliffs are known
as Dry Falls.

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They are geological ghosts,

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reminders of the great flood
that once swept across this region.

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Around 12,000 years ago

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a giant ice dam in
a lake 180 miles long

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collapsed under the weight of water.

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A huge wave up to 600 metres high

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raced across the land at speeds
of more than 60 miles an hour.

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This floodwater cut deep
into the landscape,

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forming a giant waterfall
several miles wide

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and more than twice the height
of Niagara Falls.

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The roar of the advancing tidal wave
would have been heard

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by animals hundreds
of miles away

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as much as half an hour
before it reached them.

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Two days later the lake was empty

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and the torrent started to subside,

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but by then millions of animals
had died.

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Some of the fossils found
beneath the streets of Woodburn

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show it may have been hit
by these floods.

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And there may have been people
living here at that time.

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A strand of human hair discovered
deep underground

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has been dated
at around 12,000 years old.

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While many stone tools from the ice age
have been found,

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evidence such as hair is very rare.

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The dating of the Woodburn hair
is controversial

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but if correct,

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it represents one of the oldest
human relics on the continent.

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But is there other evidence
to back it up?

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Another crucial hint that people
did exist here as the Ice Age ended

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was discovered
to the north of Woodburn

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on the Olympic Peninsula.

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A two and a half metre long tusk
was found

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and led to the unearthing
of a giant skeleton, recreated here.

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Just the left hand side remained,

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but it was enough to identify

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one of the most impressive
creatures of the Ice Age -

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a mastodon.

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Mastodons, like mammoths, disappeared
soon after the Ice Age ended,

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and this skeleton revealed
one possible reason why.

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Between the ribs of this large male

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was found what seems
to be a spear point,

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which implies this mastodon
had encountered human hunters.

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A closer look reveals the rib bone
healed around the injury,

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showing that even if the mastodon
had been attacked,

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he survived.

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Mastodons were distant relatives
of woolly mammoths,

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but slightly smaller
at around 3 metres.

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It's thought that while the mammoths
grazed the open grasslands,

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mastodons favoured
patchy forests and swamps.

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They moved in small herds, browsing
on large shrubs and trees.

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We know what they ate

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partly from the fossil teeth
they left behind.

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Their teeth had high, ridged cusps,

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thought to be used for grinding
tough material like branches.

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And plant remains found near the teeth

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suggest the mastodons preferred
to dine on pines and other conifers,

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using their trunks
to pull off branches,

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much like modern elephants.

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Today, the largest browsers
on the continent are moose.

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Moose weren't present in the Northwest
during the last Ice Age,

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but can their feeding habits
give us an idea

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of how the mastodons lived then?

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Moose spend most of their time browsing
on deciduous trees.

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But at certain times of year they try
something a little different.

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It seems that water
plants in lakes and ponds

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provide essential nutrients
that moose can't get from trees.

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Mastodon remains are often found
preserved in ancient bogs and swamps

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suggesting they too may have
varied their tree diet

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with seasonal water plants.

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We know that mastodons and moose
did not overlap in the Northwest.

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But if the large male found
on the Olympic peninsula

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was victim of a spear attack,

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it seems that mastodons and people did.

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But how did human hunters reach
this area to start with?

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To retrace their steps we need
to travel further north

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to the islands off the coast
of South East Alaska.

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This is Admiralty Island,
famous for its brown bears.

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Until recently it was assumed
that 13,000 years ago

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it was covered in ice,
just like most of the mainland.

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But a recent study
of Admiralty's bears

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reveals they are genetically different
to those on the Alaskan mainland.

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This suggests they must have been
cut off here on the island

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for tens of thousands of years.

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So could it be that Admiralty island

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was an ice-free zone
during the Ice Age?

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The genetic evidence suggests it was.

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Bears are usually solitary creatures,

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but in summer they are drawn together
by the need for food.

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Mothers with spring born cubs begin
to congregate

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around the coastal rivers,

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as they would have done
during the Ice Age.

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They're here to catch migrating salmon
on their way upstream.

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In these tidal shallows
it's like fishing in a barrel.

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For the cubs, it's time
to look and learn

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as mother shows them
how it's done.

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But sharpening those predatory
instincts takes a lot of practice.

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The study of the Admiralty bears

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suggests these coastal islands
may have been like stepping stones,

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allowing animals to move around
during the Ice Age,

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island hopping down the coast
before arriving on the mainland.

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And this idea is backed up
by other evidence nearby.

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This weathered limestone
on Prince of Wales Island

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is riddled with caves.

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And one cave in particular,
recreated here,

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turned out to be
a treasure trove of fossils.

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00:21:51,103 --> 00:21:54,523
Some of the bones found belonged
to a large brown bear,

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00:21:54,565 --> 00:21:57,401
dating from the peak of
the last Ice Age.

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There were there other animals
apart from bears.

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00:22:15,419 --> 00:22:17,754
In the same cave
on Prince of Wales island,

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a smaller skeleton was found.

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00:22:23,468 --> 00:22:25,721
An Ice Age Arctic fox

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which would have used the cave
to stash its food.

202
00:22:40,861 --> 00:22:43,947
There were the scattered bones
of seabirds too,

203
00:22:44,072 --> 00:22:47,284
probably leftovers
from the fox's meals.

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00:23:20,901 --> 00:23:23,237
Foxes need open ground to breed

205
00:23:23,362 --> 00:23:26,782
and it seems that Prince
of Wales island, like Admiralty,

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00:23:26,865 --> 00:23:29,451
provided this during the Ice Age.

207
00:23:44,925 --> 00:23:47,678
We now know some regions
of the northwest coast

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00:23:47,803 --> 00:23:51,139
offered an ice-free sanctuary
throughout the Ice Age.

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00:23:51,807 --> 00:23:55,561
So could people have been travelling
between these islands too?

210
00:24:00,816 --> 00:24:02,943
The evidence suggests they were.

211
00:24:05,612 --> 00:24:07,531
The Prince of Wales Island cave

212
00:24:07,614 --> 00:24:11,493
also held the fossilised remains
of at least one human,

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00:24:12,494 --> 00:24:15,038
including a complete lower jaw.

214
00:24:16,456 --> 00:24:18,167
The position of the wisdom teeth

215
00:24:18,250 --> 00:24:21,837
suggests the jawbone came
from a man in his early twenties.

216
00:24:22,212 --> 00:24:25,883
But his teeth were deeply pitted
for his youthful age.

217
00:24:26,133 --> 00:24:28,343
What could have caused
this damage?

218
00:24:31,013 --> 00:24:34,975
Again, the coastline seems
to hold the answer.

219
00:24:42,566 --> 00:24:44,151
There is a saying in Alaska

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00:24:44,234 --> 00:24:47,696
that the tide lays
the dinner table twice every day.

221
00:24:52,659 --> 00:24:58,290
With each low tide the newly exposed
rocks present a seafood platter.

222
00:24:58,540 --> 00:25:00,834
And it's available all year round.

223
00:25:16,308 --> 00:25:19,478
So shellfish would have been an easy
and accessible source of protein

224
00:25:19,603 --> 00:25:21,813
for these early North Americans.

225
00:25:34,326 --> 00:25:37,037
There's even evidence
that they used bags and baskets

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00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,331
to collect food along the coast.

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00:25:49,049 --> 00:25:52,427
But shellfish, while nutritious,
can be very gritty,

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00:25:52,845 --> 00:25:56,807
which may help explain the deep pits
in the fossil teeth.

229
00:26:00,143 --> 00:26:02,855
Chemical analysis of other bones
seems to confirm

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00:26:02,938 --> 00:26:06,817
that what the man ate did indeed
come mostly from the sea.

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00:26:07,442 --> 00:26:11,071
And there are other clues
relating to his death.

232
00:26:12,781 --> 00:26:15,617
One of his hips was marked
with scratches.

233
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:17,619
Where did these come from?

234
00:26:18,829 --> 00:26:21,915
Perhaps a scavenger that
found the young man's body.

235
00:26:22,249 --> 00:26:25,377
Or were they made
while he was still alive?

236
00:26:35,345 --> 00:26:39,391
Humans weren't the only animals
that used caves for shelter.

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00:27:21,850 --> 00:27:24,353
The attacker may have been a bear,

238
00:27:24,645 --> 00:27:27,773
quite common in these caves
during the Ice Age.

239
00:27:35,823 --> 00:27:37,699
Although the young
man's bones date back

240
00:27:37,741 --> 00:27:40,035
just to the end of the last Ice Age,

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00:27:40,244 --> 00:27:45,082
scientists think Prince of Wales island
was probably habitable even earlier,

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00:27:45,290 --> 00:27:47,960
when the mainland was
still deep frozen.

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00:27:55,592 --> 00:28:00,556
These islanders were far removed from
the cliche of primitive stone age man.

244
00:28:00,639 --> 00:28:02,432
Able to sew and weave,

245
00:28:02,599 --> 00:28:05,227
they made different clothes
for different seasons

246
00:28:05,394 --> 00:28:08,272
and even decorated themselves
with jewellery.

247
00:28:14,069 --> 00:28:18,157
But how did they first arrive here
on these offshore islands?

248
00:28:22,452 --> 00:28:26,540
Their skills must have included
making and navigating boats.

249
00:28:34,923 --> 00:28:37,634
Exactly where they sailed
from isn't certain,

250
00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:40,387
but they may have
come from Northeast Asia,

251
00:28:40,554 --> 00:28:42,598
island hopping across the Pacific

252
00:28:42,723 --> 00:28:45,017
until they hit the coast
of North America.

253
00:29:00,741 --> 00:29:05,537
At first they probably relied more
on the sea's resources than the land.

254
00:29:05,704 --> 00:29:08,624
They may even have traded goods
between the islands.

255
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,421
But they didn't stay
islanders forever.

256
00:29:15,339 --> 00:29:17,716
As the mainland glaciers receded,

257
00:29:17,841 --> 00:29:21,803
a brand new land began
to open up to them.

258
00:29:52,793 --> 00:29:55,587
They may have travelled partly
with the seasons,

259
00:29:55,671 --> 00:29:59,466
guided by the best time
and places for fishing.

260
00:30:09,977 --> 00:30:13,063
This spectacle would have been
a golden opportunity.

261
00:30:13,272 --> 00:30:15,107
Every year
in early spring

262
00:30:15,232 --> 00:30:19,027
vast schools of herring gather off
the coast to spawn,

263
00:30:19,194 --> 00:30:22,156
attracting sea lions from miles around.

264
00:30:33,750 --> 00:30:38,338
These same events took place here
13,000 years ago

265
00:30:38,714 --> 00:30:43,051
and could not have gone unnoticed
by the bands of seafaring hunters.

266
00:30:51,685 --> 00:30:53,896
While the sea lions hunted herring,

267
00:30:54,021 --> 00:30:56,690
people no doubt hunted both.

268
00:31:16,627 --> 00:31:18,712
As herring near the time
of spawning

269
00:31:18,837 --> 00:31:20,506
they draw closer to the shore.

270
00:31:26,386 --> 00:31:30,432
Here they begin releasing eggs
and sperm into the tidal waters.

271
00:31:40,609 --> 00:31:43,028
The sheer scale
of this reproductive frenzy

272
00:31:43,195 --> 00:31:46,073
can turn miles
of coastline milky white,

273
00:31:46,156 --> 00:31:48,492
just as it did during the Ice Age.

274
00:32:09,763 --> 00:32:13,058
As the Ice Age glaciers melted
and the rivers opened up,

275
00:32:13,225 --> 00:32:15,978
another kind of fish began
to head inland.

276
00:32:16,895 --> 00:32:18,772
Without the barriers of ice,

277
00:32:18,856 --> 00:32:23,068
migrating salmon penetrated upstream
deep into the continent.

278
00:32:31,660 --> 00:32:34,621
These freshly flowing rivers
and the fish they carried

279
00:32:34,705 --> 00:32:37,499
lured people
further inland too.

280
00:32:52,055 --> 00:32:54,224
In small groups they branched out

281
00:32:54,308 --> 00:32:57,978
to continue their passage
into the new world.

282
00:33:03,567 --> 00:33:04,860
They were continuing a journey

283
00:33:04,943 --> 00:33:06,862
that had started
with their ancestors

284
00:33:06,904 --> 00:33:09,323
on the other side
of the Pacific Ocean

285
00:33:09,406 --> 00:33:11,074
somewhere in Asia.

286
00:33:21,210 --> 00:33:23,629
These inroads brought
their first contact

287
00:33:23,712 --> 00:33:25,964
with the large beasts
of the continent

288
00:33:26,048 --> 00:33:29,009
including
the Olympic Peninsula mastodon.

289
00:33:37,851 --> 00:33:41,647
Although it seems to have survived
its first attack by human hunters,

290
00:33:41,897 --> 00:33:45,692
there is evidence that in the end
people dined on its meat.

291
00:33:46,151 --> 00:33:50,239
Marks on its bones appear to show
that it was butchered after death.

292
00:33:53,700 --> 00:33:58,288
A large bull mastodon was
quite a prize, alive or dead.

293
00:34:19,768 --> 00:34:24,147
But if the hunters didn't actually
kill the mastodon, what did?

294
00:34:27,776 --> 00:34:30,404
Another cave discovery
reconstructed here

295
00:34:30,487 --> 00:34:32,948
has shed light on an Ice Age predator

296
00:34:33,031 --> 00:34:37,619
that may have been the biggest enemy
of mastodons and mammoths -

297
00:34:38,787 --> 00:34:40,497
the scimitar-toothed cat.

298
00:34:47,212 --> 00:34:50,007
Like its notorious relative,
the sabre-tooth,

299
00:34:50,132 --> 00:34:53,260
the scimitar possessed
long lethal canines,

300
00:34:53,343 --> 00:34:55,721
used to slash and kill its victims.

301
00:35:00,642 --> 00:35:03,896
The inside of this cave
is testament to its success.

302
00:35:04,563 --> 00:35:08,108
More than 400 remains
of baby mammoth and mastodon

303
00:35:08,192 --> 00:35:11,111
were found alongside
the scimitar skeleton.

304
00:35:13,530 --> 00:35:16,617
The fearsome canines
had serrated edges

305
00:35:16,867 --> 00:35:21,079
and we can learn more about the
scimitar's hunting techniques
from its skull.

306
00:35:23,499 --> 00:35:24,917
Like a modern cheetah,

307
00:35:25,125 --> 00:35:28,253
it had larger nasal passages
than most cats.

308
00:35:30,923 --> 00:35:33,133
In the cheetah
these deliver extra oxygen

309
00:35:33,258 --> 00:35:35,552
for short fast sprints.

310
00:35:39,681 --> 00:35:42,809
A good grip is essential
to the cheetah in a chase,

311
00:35:42,893 --> 00:35:45,521
something the scimitar cat
also possessed.

312
00:35:51,944 --> 00:35:53,153
And like tigers,

313
00:35:53,278 --> 00:35:55,572
scimitars had powerful jaws

314
00:35:55,697 --> 00:35:58,700
helping them to dismantle
the bodies of their prey.

315
00:36:06,875 --> 00:36:11,964
These crushing jaws are also used
to carry large kills back to dens.

316
00:36:29,481 --> 00:36:33,360
Like most cats, the scimitar
was probably a solitary hunter,

317
00:36:33,527 --> 00:36:36,113
and like generations
of earlier occupants,

318
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:40,117
it would have used this cave
to store fresh carcasses.

319
00:36:47,624 --> 00:36:49,793
This may also have been a birthing den,

320
00:36:50,043 --> 00:36:53,964
a safe place for the scimitar
to leave its young while hunting.

321
00:37:06,685 --> 00:37:08,395
In the quiet of its hideaway,

322
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:10,939
the scimitar could rest
after a kill

323
00:37:11,148 --> 00:37:14,276
and this one,
perhaps old or injured,

324
00:37:14,401 --> 00:37:17,362
seems to have come home to die.

325
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:33,629
Scimitar cats became extinct

326
00:37:33,754 --> 00:37:36,840
around the same time
as the mastodons and mammoths -

327
00:37:37,007 --> 00:37:41,386
another hint that they depended on the
elephant-like creatures for their food.

328
00:37:42,179 --> 00:37:45,974
But the evidence suggests these cats
normally attacked young animals,

329
00:37:46,099 --> 00:37:50,604
making it unlikely that a scimitar
killed the Olympic Peninsula mastodon.

330
00:37:51,939 --> 00:37:55,651
So if it wasn't killed by human hunters
or by a scimitar,

331
00:37:55,734 --> 00:37:59,696
perhaps this mastodon was not
the victim of a predator at all.

332
00:38:00,197 --> 00:38:03,075
Another theory comes from
the bones themselves.

333
00:38:05,077 --> 00:38:08,205
The cheek teeth used for browsing
were extremely worn

334
00:38:08,330 --> 00:38:09,832
almost down to the gum -

335
00:38:10,123 --> 00:38:13,210
a sign of heavy use
over many years.

336
00:38:14,086 --> 00:38:16,964
But this wear and tear may
also have resulted

337
00:38:17,047 --> 00:38:20,676
from eating food outside
the mastodon's normal diet.

338
00:38:26,014 --> 00:38:29,893
Bones of grazers such as bison
lay close to its skeleton,

339
00:38:30,018 --> 00:38:33,146
implying this was open grassland
at the time.

340
00:38:34,648 --> 00:38:36,775
Caribou were also found nearby -

341
00:38:36,942 --> 00:38:39,653
creatures that also favour
open spaces.

342
00:38:46,785 --> 00:38:50,497
Today they live mainly
on the tundra of the far north.

343
00:39:01,967 --> 00:39:04,678
The presence of these other animals
suggests the mastodon

344
00:39:04,803 --> 00:39:07,681
was not surrounded
by its normal forest habitat.

345
00:39:08,098 --> 00:39:11,185
Instead, this area
was treeless grassland

346
00:39:11,310 --> 00:39:13,562
grazed by caribou and bison.

347
00:39:15,856 --> 00:39:17,024
Unlike a mammoth,

348
00:39:17,149 --> 00:39:19,943
mastodon teeth weren't
designed for eating grass,

349
00:39:20,068 --> 00:39:22,779
which contains large amounts
of erosive silica.

350
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:26,867
The silica may have destroyed
this mastodon's teeth early

351
00:39:26,992 --> 00:39:28,702
and contributed to its death.

352
00:39:31,872 --> 00:39:33,373
In the end it seems this bull

353
00:39:33,457 --> 00:39:37,377
was probably a victim
of a bad diet and old age.

354
00:39:44,009 --> 00:39:45,511
Now we've seen the evidence,

355
00:39:45,594 --> 00:39:48,263
we're equipped to travel back in time,

356
00:39:48,472 --> 00:39:52,518
back to the end of the last Ice Age
13,000 years ago

357
00:39:52,809 --> 00:39:56,021
to experience a day
in the life of the Northwest,

358
00:39:56,146 --> 00:39:58,357
as witnessed by the first people.

359
00:40:25,759 --> 00:40:28,804
This lake is a lifesaver
for these mastodons.

360
00:40:29,054 --> 00:40:31,014
It provides more than water.

361
00:40:31,765 --> 00:40:33,767
As there are few trees to browse on,

362
00:40:33,851 --> 00:40:36,770
water plants are
a valuable source of nutrition.

363
00:40:43,652 --> 00:40:46,446
For some of these mastodons
it's a temporary visit.

364
00:40:46,697 --> 00:40:49,074
They will move on in search
of open forests

365
00:40:49,116 --> 00:40:50,784
once they are well fed.

366
00:40:56,874 --> 00:41:01,128
The search for food and water
has brought a new arrival.

367
00:41:01,503 --> 00:41:05,549
These people have used rivers
to move inland from the coast.

368
00:41:18,687 --> 00:41:22,482
This is the natural home of caribou
and woolly mammoth -

369
00:41:22,524 --> 00:41:24,985
both tempting prey for these people.

370
00:41:33,744 --> 00:41:35,579
They hunt smaller creatures too

371
00:41:35,662 --> 00:41:39,958
and use their fur for clothing
to keep out the wind and cold.

372
00:41:53,805 --> 00:41:57,726
These people bring many other skills
and are highly adaptable.

373
00:41:58,143 --> 00:42:00,437
But to most of the animals
that live here,

374
00:42:00,521 --> 00:42:03,607
they are a new, unknown quantity.

375
00:42:25,838 --> 00:42:28,131
As the ice begins to lose its grip,

376
00:42:28,257 --> 00:42:30,092
the land is in a state of flux

377
00:42:30,175 --> 00:42:32,427
and many different creatures mix.

378
00:42:34,930 --> 00:42:38,767
The open grassy plains are favoured
by mammoth herds.

379
00:42:44,273 --> 00:42:47,276
But these mammoths have to share
the lake with mastodons,

380
00:42:47,401 --> 00:42:48,777
their smaller cousins.

381
00:43:03,709 --> 00:43:06,044
While some of these mastodons
are migrants,

382
00:43:06,170 --> 00:43:10,090
travelling onwards searching
for fresh forests to browse,

383
00:43:10,507 --> 00:43:14,511
for this old bull,
at nearly 50 years of age,

384
00:43:14,595 --> 00:43:16,346
this is the last stop.

385
00:43:16,805 --> 00:43:18,307
Weary and arthritic,

386
00:43:18,473 --> 00:43:22,269
he bears the scars
of his long, arduous life.

387
00:43:28,609 --> 00:43:31,570
The scimitar, a lion-sized cat,

388
00:43:31,778 --> 00:43:34,948
is never far away from
mastodons and mammoths.

389
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:45,292
Although slighter in build
than its relative the sabre-tooth,

390
00:43:45,417 --> 00:43:49,171
the scimitar is the biggest predator
of North America's elephants.

391
00:43:55,219 --> 00:43:58,347
Right now, though,
opportunities are rare -

392
00:43:58,472 --> 00:44:01,725
even a scimitar cannot attack
an adult in its prime.

393
00:44:03,143 --> 00:44:06,063
But older animals,
such as this feeble bull,

394
00:44:06,146 --> 00:44:08,232
could be potential targets.

395
00:44:16,073 --> 00:44:20,118
A long and eventful life
is drawing to a close.

396
00:44:25,749 --> 00:44:28,627
Bull mastodons live most
of their lives alone,

397
00:44:29,044 --> 00:44:32,881
but in their final hours they seem
to attract company.

398
00:44:34,007 --> 00:44:38,428
For a scimitar a mastodon near death
is a temptation worth pursuing.

399
00:44:44,434 --> 00:44:46,687
But mastodons, like many elephants,

400
00:44:46,812 --> 00:44:49,523
are fiercely protective of the dying.

401
00:45:26,476 --> 00:45:27,519
For the scimitar,

402
00:45:27,603 --> 00:45:31,398
the mastodon's slow death
becomes a waiting game.

403
00:45:49,791 --> 00:45:52,002
The mastodon has died in peace,

404
00:45:52,169 --> 00:45:54,630
and now the scimitar
has got his meal -

405
00:45:54,796 --> 00:45:57,925
a feast that soon attracts
further attention.

406
00:45:59,426 --> 00:46:01,887
There's far more meat
than this cat needs,

407
00:46:01,970 --> 00:46:04,973
but it's still loathe
to let in the others.

408
00:46:09,102 --> 00:46:12,397
Against another cat,
it holds its ground,

409
00:46:12,564 --> 00:46:15,192
but other hunters
are arriving at the lake.

410
00:46:20,572 --> 00:46:22,825
The scimitar is doomed
to lose its meal

411
00:46:22,908 --> 00:46:25,828
and faces a potentially
dangerous situation.

412
00:46:26,620 --> 00:46:30,874
This is the first time this scimitar
has encountered people.

413
00:46:36,964 --> 00:46:41,802
On this occasion the cat gives way
to these formidable new hunters.

414
00:46:51,687 --> 00:46:53,564
Humans, like other animals,

415
00:46:53,647 --> 00:46:55,732
will find food where they can

416
00:46:55,899 --> 00:46:58,777
and scavenging is one way
to survive.

417
00:47:07,452 --> 00:47:09,121
It's a time consuming task

418
00:47:09,204 --> 00:47:12,916
but these people are well equipped
to butcher as much as they need.

419
00:47:23,135 --> 00:47:26,513
The mastodon carcass could
provide food for a later date.

420
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:31,393
It's not uncommon for meat from large
kills to be prepared and saved.

421
00:47:42,613 --> 00:47:46,033
In the end they abandon
what's left of the mastodon,

422
00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:48,952
and the carcass sinks
into the boggy lake.

423
00:47:52,706 --> 00:47:56,668
With it lies the story
of its Ice Age life and death,

424
00:47:56,877 --> 00:48:01,507
remaining buried until
its discovery 13,000 years later

425
00:48:01,632 --> 00:48:05,260
in the Northwest
of modern day America.

426
00:48:11,370 --> 00:48:15,208
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Written & synchr. by m06166