Waco Mammoth National Monument

One day in 1978, Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin were walking along a dry creek bed ravine near Waco.  As they started climbing up the ravine, one of them grabbed at what he thought was a larger rock to help him with his climb.  He then noticed that the “rock” was very smooth, and was concerned that he had discovered a skull.  As it turns out, it wasn’t a skull – it was the top portion of a femur of a Columbian Mammoth!  The Strecker Museum at Baylor University identified it, and it was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  As it turns out, and entire herd of Columbian Mammoths were buried here!  It was thought that the herd got caught in a flash flood and was unable to climb out of the ravine to the safety of higher ground.  In any event, it was the largest Columbian Mammoth find in history.  In 2015, this site was declared to be the Waco Mammoth National Monument.

I have to admit, I never knew there was more than one type of mammoth.  The Woolly Mammoth was the only one I ever heard of.  However, as you can see from the chart in the above photo, the Columbian Mammoth was much larger than the Woolly Mammoth.  There was a rendition of what scientists think the Columbian Mammoth looked like. They had much longer legs than the Woolly Mammoths, and weren’t as woolly, either.

The building that we were able to walk through on our visit actually covers and protects the dig site.  And, that means that we got to see the mammoths as they were uncovered.  It was incredible to see so many of the mammoths so close to each other.  As I said above, it is thought that the mammoth herd was caught in a flash flood, trapped and actually carried downstream for a while before they drowned and were buried in the mud and muck of the flood waters.

Even their remains were very large!  I had to take two photos of this one male mammoth in order to capture not only his body, but his tusks, too!  Although these animals were very large, man was not in danger of being eaten by them.  They were herbivores, and only fed on the grasses and leaves growing around them.

I did manage to get some close-up photos of some of the portions of the mammoths.  The top (largest) photo in the above image was of the jaw of a mammoth.  The smaller photo partially layered on top of it is one of the actual teeth of the mammoth.  And, finally, they had a femur on display from a mammoth.  When I stood next to this femur, it came up to about my waist!  Was this the femur that Paul and Eddie first found?   That was something I wasn’t able to find out!

Enjoy!