Woolly mammoths once roamed Vancouver Island for more than 20,000 years, according to a new study.
Simon Fraser University researcher Laura Termes recently published the study in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences as part of her work for a doctorate in archaeology. She examined 32 samples suspected to be mammoth fossils, and the oldest turned out to be older than 45,000 years.
Other mammoth samples from the island have been dated to as recent as 21,000 years ago.
Termes, who grew up in Parksville, says the results are exciting because they show mammoths lived on the Island longer than previously thought.
She had help from the Royal BC Museum, as well as the Courtenay and District Museum and Paleontology Centre. She was also assisted by the ADaPT facility at UBC, which helped her determine if samples were actually from mammoths, or from whales or other animals.
Termes says intact mammoth samples are actually quite rare in BC.
“When we imagine great big giant animals of the last ice age being found, we might have imagined fully articulated and complete skeletons being systematically excavated. But in southern B.C., that simply does not happen,” says Termes. “Instead, we may get an isolated molar that’s been tumbled around in the water for a long time, or maybe a piece of a tusk. And these are what everyday people are encountering.”
For example, one sample she examined was a piece of mammoth tooth found by a child in the gravel at a local playground.
“So maybe it’s a dog owner, taking their puppy for a walk on a rainy day, or a gravel pit operator at work,” says Termes, who grew up in Qualicum Beach. “I really like how these magnificent animals are finding their way into people’s lives in routine and everyday ways.”
The study is part of a larger look at megafauna in B.C. and Termes plans on radiocarbon dating mammoth samples from other parts of the province.
