Paleontologist to Discuss Extinction of the Great Woolly Mammoth

| January 24, 2015 in Galavanting

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As the climate continues to change, scientists are looking into the past for answers. A visiting paleontologist will be bringing the history of Yukon's mammals to UBCO. He will be explaining how the fossils found in the frozen ground help us to understand how ecosystems have evolved and changed through time, as a result of climate change. In addition, he will also be discussing why the mammals went extinct, as well as how northern communities came to be established.

Photo credit: contributed. 

On Tuesday, January 27th, Associate Professor Robert Young, along with Yukon Government Paleontologist, Grant Zazula will be revealing their work on local gold mining communities to examine fossils of strange Ice Age beasts that once roomed the earth.

The Yukon is Canada's most productive and important region for research on Ice Age mammal fossils. Since the famous gold rush of 1898, miners in the gold fields near Dawson city have uncovered spectacular fossils of ice age mammals—from woolly mammoths to extinct camels.

As the government paleontologist, Zazula works closely with the Yukon placer gold mining industry to ensure that Ice Age fossils uncovered at gold mines are collected and preserved for research.

The presentation is part of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Graduate Seminar series through the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences. This seminar is free of charge and open to the public. It will be held at 3:30 p.m., room SCI 337, science building, UBC's Okanagan campus.

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