Soon our heroes left the Taiga forest and entered another environment. It lacked trees and bsuhes, instead it was full of snow, willow shrubs, herbs, and grasses as far as the eye can see. Herds of herbivores from Reindeer, Saiga Antelope, Musk Oxen, Aurochs, Elasmotheriums, Wooly Rhinos, Steppe Bison, Megaloceros or Giant Elk, Tarpan horses, and small animals like Mountain Hares, roamed the arctic plains.

Thomas: "This is the perfect habitat for mammoths. This is the Mammoth Steppe, Earth's most extensive biome. It once spanned from Spain eastward across Eurasia to Canada and from the arctic islands southward to China. The climate was cold and dry and the vegetation was dominated by palatable high-productivity grasses, herbs and willow shrubs. The animal biomass was dominated by bison, horses, and wooly mammoths, which is the namesake of this environment. This ecosystem covered wide areas of the northern part of the globe, thriving for approximately 100,000 years without major changes, but then diminished to small regions around 12,000 years ago. These mammoth lived alongside The wooly rhinoceros, giant deer, reindeer, saiga antelope and bison, and such an assortment of animals is known as the Mammuthus-Coelodonta Faunal Complex."

Soon they hear the sounds of trumpeting like an elephant. As our heroes walked on top of the hill to see a huge vast plain was a mega herd of wooly mammoths. Most were covered with dark brown, some black, brown, tannish brown, light blonde, and light brown. Mostly small herds joining together, Bulls, cows, and calves alike.

Thomas: "I can't believe this! A mega herd of Woolly Mammoths There's multitudes of them!"

Spongebob: "Whoa! The Titans of the Ice Age!"

Charlie: "One of the iconic symbols of the Ice Age and extinct creatures."

Trey: "This is amazing."

Ash: "We did it, we found them!"

Lincoln: "There are so many of them!"

Luna: "We know dude"

Patrick: "Now, we can get them to the park, right?"

Thomas: "Eventually soon, those individuals over there are the females have much smaller tusks than the lifespan of mammals is related to their size, and since modern elephants can reach the age of 60 years, the same is thought to be true for wooly mammoths, which were of a similar size. The age of a mammoth can be roughly determined by counting the growth rings of its tusks when viewed in cross section, but this does not account for its early years, as these are represented by the tips of the tusks, which are usually worn away. In the remaining part of the tusk, each major line represents a year, and weekly and daily ones can be found in between. Dark bands correspond to summers, so determining the season in which a mammoth died is possible. The growth of the tusks slowed when foraging became harder, for example during winter, during disease, or when a male was banished from the herd (male elephants live with their herds until about the age of 10). Mammoth tusks dating to the harshest period of the last glaciation 25–20,000 years ago show slower growth rates. And they're following the lead of one animal and she's the matriarch. She could be 60 years of age. She maintains cohesiveness in the herd. They stop when she stops, sleep when she sleeps and feed and drink when she does. Like modern elephants, wooly mammoths were likely very social and lived in matriarchal (female-led) family groups. This is supported by fossil assemblages and cave paintings showing groups, implying that most of their other social behaviors were likely similar to those of modern elephants just like what we're seeing here Of course after all they're more alike.

Bonnie: "So where do you think they're going?"

Clemont: "They must be migrating to their wintering grounds?"

Thomas: "Good observation you two, For some animals in the winter with food scarcity and cold temperatures, they migrate to warmer climates where food is abundant. How many mammoths lived at one location at a time is unknown, as fossil deposits are often accumulations of individuals that died over long periods of time. The numbers likely varied by season and lifecycle events. Modern elephants can form large herds, sometimes consisting of multiple family groups, and these herds can include thousands of animals migrating together. Mammoths may have formed large herds more often, since animals that live in open areas are more likely to do this than those in forested areas. Trackways made by a wooly mammoth herd 11,300–11,000 years ago have been found in the St. Mary Reservoir in Canada, showing that in this case almost equal numbers of adults, subadults, and juveniles were found. The adults had a stride of 2 m (6.6 ft), and the juveniles ran to keep up. Researchers using isotopes of strontium and oxygen preserved in its tusk and matching them with locations across the state of Alaska found the wooly mammoth walked a distance equal to nearly twice the circumference of Earth. They tracked up an extraordinary distance in their lifetime covering tens of thousands of miles. It was mostly a male searching for mates, so Wooly Mammoths were long distance trekkers and There's a patch of green down there. That's an area of vegetation where we should go and follow them."

Soon the team were riding on their snowmobiles as they followed the mega herd. Then they briefly stopped seeing how the matriarch is leading the herd away from something or someone as the matriarch trumpeted to the herd.

Luna: "Looks like there's a commotion going in the herd!"

Thomas: "You're right Luna. The matriarch is leading them away. I don't know why. I can't see a predator.

As he looked through the binoculars and saw that she was leading them away from another mammoth, it was a larger one with longer tusks.

Tino: "Is that the male?"

Thomas: Yes, There. It's a big bull mammoth, a male mammoth, and he's in musth, which means he's ready to mate. The best-preserved head of a frozen adult specimen, that of a male nicknamed the "Yukagir mammoth", shows that wooly mammoths had temporal glands between the ear and the eye. This feature indicates that, like bull elephants, male wooly mammoths entered "musth", a period of heightened aggressiveness. The glands are used especially by males to produce an oily substance with a strong smell called temporin. Their fur may have helped in spreading the scent further. When they're in this state, they've got four times the amount of testosterone and they can be really irritable and aggressive. He's driving the herd away. He's investigating all the females, seeing if there's one that's ready to mate. Most of the time. Males live alone or in small bachelor herds. One thing for sure, You don't want to get in a path of a mad mammoth

As they continued to move they notice two big felines at standing on the hill, they were tannish color with a white underbelly with some black spots, a blakc hair tuft end black side stripes, short grayish brown manes with the front being pale, along with hair elbow tufts, and mane underbellies.

Lincoln: "Huh? Are Saber tooths?!"

Mac: "I don't think so? I don't see any sabers."

Double D: "Technically, Smilodons or Saber-toothed Cats were mostly found in the Americas not in Eurasia."

Thomas: "You're right Double D, I think what Lincoln is seeing are Lions. They might seem out of place here in the Ice Age, But they had a range from Africa, Asia, and once Europe. These must be Eurasian Cave Lions(Panthera spelaea) also known as the European cave lions or steppe lions."

SpongeBob: "How are they different from lions we know?"

Double D: Well, Cave Lions formed a contiguous population from Europe to Alaska over the Bering land bridge, across the range of the mammoth steppe. It was widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula, Southeast Europe, Great Britain, Central Europe, the East European Plain, and across most of northern Eurasia into Canada and Alaska. The oldest known fossils were excavated in northeastern Yakutia and were radiocarbon dated at 62,400 years old. The youngest known fossils are dated 11,925 years old and originated near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Phylogenetic analysis of fossil bone samples revealed that it was highly distinct and genetically isolated from the modern lion (Panthera leo) occurring in Africa and Central Asia. Cave paintings suggest that male cave lions completely lacked manes, or at most had very small manes."

Thomas: "Those two lions have very short small manes not big like the ones in Africa, these males must be brothers. In 2016, hair found near the Maly Anyuy River was identified as cave lion hair through DNA analysis. Comparison with hair of a modern lion revealed that cave lion hair was probably similar in color as that of the modern lion, though slightly lighter. In addition, the cave lion is thought to have had a very thick and dense undercoat comprising closed and compressed yellowish-to-white wavy downy hair with a smaller mass of darker-coloured guard hairs, possibly an adaptation to the Ice Age climate. Cave Lions are thought to have been one of the largest lion species. The skeleton of an adult male found in 1985 near Siegsdorf in Germany had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) and a head-body length of 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) without the tail, similar in size to large modern lions. The size of this male was exceeded by other specimens, with another male reaching 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) long without the tail. Similarly, footprints attributed to a male cave lion measured 15 cm (6 in) across. The heaviest Panthera spelaea was estimated to weigh 339 kg (747 lb). They had a relatively longer and narrower muzzle compared to that of the extant lion. Despite this, the two species do not exhibit major differences in morphology. They would have been up to or over 12% larger than modern lions, but still smaller than the earlier Panthera fossils or the American lion.

SpongeBob: "Oh, now I get it, they're much bigger, a less impressive mane, and they have thicker fur to live in the cold Ice Age.

The two male cave lions descended the hill as they were attracted to something.

French Narrator: "Cave lions live in open habitats such as steppe and grasslands although they also would have occurred in open woodlands as well. It was one of the keystone species of the mammoth steppe, being one of the main apex predators alongside gray wolf, cave hyena and brown bear. An Isotope analysis study suggested most sampled specimens were primarily consuming reindeer."

The team saw the two males approaching a carcass with three lionesses which lack the manes of the males, already feasting as the mammoths passed by them, the lionesses cleared the way allowing the males to feast. But this carcass wasn't an animal, it was covered with fur coats which were clothes, a spear by his side, hairless skin and only visible on the hair, and walked on two legs. It was an Ice Age human hunter.

Thomas: "Oh dear that hunter wasn't lucky.

Charlie: "I wonder how he ended up like this?"

Thomas: "Lions often hunt at night, The hunter must of gotten separated from his hunting party

Of his tribe. Cave paintings almost exclusively show hunting lions without a mane, suggesting that males were indeed maneless. Like most lions, Females are smaller than the males,and they do most of the hunting and you see the lionesses are making way for the males to feast

The lions suddenly ran off when they noticed a bull mammoth charging towards them. The Mammoth trumpeted loudly as it continued on his way, it seems the mammoth doesn't tolerate them.

Patrick: "Hey, he stopped?"

Thomas: "I saw this before with modern elephants and lions. A full grown elephant has no threat from predators like lions. It's young that are vulnerable other than reindeer; they would have preyed on giant deer, red deer, wild horse, musk ox, aurochs, wisent, steppe bison, young wooly rhino and young wooly mammoth."

Our heroes left the lionsas they followed the herds they noticed one herd stopping at a dead body which is nothing but bones, dry Skin, bits of Wooly fur and sticks sticking out mostly spears. The mammoths were rumbling and touching the body with their trunks and what looked like tears flowing down their understood what this is, which makes elephants intelligent and social.

Thomas: "I saw this behavior in elephants. It's sad really, These mammoths must be mourning, The loss of their own. That's why elephants are social and intelligent that body was once a member of their herd, and those sticks were spears that is lost it's life to human hunters

Some of the toons felt sad seeing the mammoths mourning the dead body.

Lillie: "So this is a funeral."

Mallow: "That's terrible."

Thomas: Yes it is and they come here to remember them."

As heartbreaking and tear jerking as it was they leave the mourning mammoth herd to continue on their journey. Eventually they followed the herds to a patch of green, mammoths socializing by caressing their trunks with one another and grazing on the grass by picking them up with their trunks and into their mouths.

Thomas: "It's such an enchanting sight. It's like an extended family - mothers and calves, there's aunties, there's sisters...And they all seem to be thriving on their grassland diet. Look how rich it is. It's so...diverse. Wooly mammoths sustained themselves on plant food, mainly grasses and sedges, which were supplemented with herbaceous plants, flowering plants, shrubs, mosses, and tree matter. The composition and exact varieties differed from location to location. Wooly mammoths needed a varied diet to support their growth, like modern elephants. An adult of 6 tons would need to eat 180 kg (397 lb) daily, and may have foraged as long as 20 hours every day. Grasses and mosses and all sorts of need a lot of vegetation. Sometimes they have to have 200kg, twice my weight in food, every day. And they forage on things like this over here. They may get vitamins and things from twigs like that. Food at various stages of digestion has been found in the intestines of several wooly mammoths, giving a good picture of their diet. The "Yukagir mammoth" ingested plant matter that contained spores of dung fungus. Isotope analysis shows that wooly mammoths fed mainly on C3 plants, unlike horses and rhinos."

Then Filburt brings out a photo image showing molar teeth of an African Elephant, an Asian Elephant, and a Wooly Mammoth.

Filburt: "Here's an image of the molars of both the African and Asian elephants and the Wooly Mammoth. African elephants have diamond shaped rides in their teeth compared to the Asian elephant. Old sets break and wear down while new sets of molars grow from the back. The teeth/molars of mammoths are among the most complex of any mammal. They are composed of plates of dentine surrounded by enamel. A series of these plates (crown) held together by dentine makes up a tooth. The number of plates in each tooth is determined by species and the age of the tooth. Mammoth molars had broad, thin crowns with small linear ridges, somewhat like a giant file. The molars were adapted to their diet of coarse tundra grasses, with more enamel plates and a higher crown than their earlier, southern relatives. The wooly mammoth chewed its food by using its powerful jaw muscles to move the mandible forwards and close the mouth, then backwards while opening; the sharp enamel ridges thereby cut across each other, grinding the food. The ridges were wear-resistant to enable the animal to chew large quantities of food, which often contained grit."

As our heroes observed the mammoths they noticed more similarities. The mammoths were using their trunks to pick off the grass with and touching one another as a way to communicate.

Charlie: "It seems we're seeing even more similarities to seems they have two trunk finger tips. Well, African elephants have two trunk finger tips while Asian elephants have one trunk finger tip,"

Thomas: "Yeah, it seems they two-fingered tip of the trunk was probably adapted for picking up the short grasses of the last ice age (Quaternary glaciation, 2.58 million years ago to present) by wrapping around them, whereas modern elephants curl their trunks around the longer grass of their tropical environments. The trunk could be used for pulling off large grass tufts, delicately picking buds and flowers, and tearing off leaves and branches where trees and shrubs were present. The trunk can also be used to pick up mud to spray over themselves, Suck up water before squirting the liquid into their mouths or over their bodies, Pick up objects, and touch to socialize with one another like modern elephants. The expansion which is the distal part was identified on the trunk of the "Yuka" mammoth and other specimens was suggested to function as a "fur mitten"; the trunk tip was not covered in fur, but was used for foraging during winter, and could have been heated by curling it into the expansion. The expansion could be used to melt snow if a shortage of water to drink existed, as melting it directly inside the mouth could disturb the thermal balance of the animal."

Krabs: "Oh, no wonder, it functions like that."

Thomas: "And as for those iconic tusks."

They see one mammoth using its tusks to dig through the snow to find food underneath

Numbuh 4: "It's using them like a snow plow."

Thomas: "Good observation, Wally, Woolly mammoths may have used their tusks as shovels to clear snow from the ground and reach the vegetation buried below, and to break ice to drink. This is indicated on many preserved tusks by flat, polished sections up to 30 centimeters (12 in) long, as well as scratches, on the part of the surface that would have reached the ground (especially at their outer curvature). The tusks were used for obtaining food in other ways, such as digging up plants and stripping off bark.

They hear rumbling and roaring and trumpets. They see two mammoths in a standoff, both males. They were trumpeting and flaring their ears.

Eduardo: "Um Tomaso, Remember what you said about Mad mammoths in musth?"

Thomas: "Yes Ed, these two bulls are about fight to win the rights to mate with the females

Charlie: "A typical fight for love. In fact, The tusks may have been used in intraspecies fighting, such as fights over territory or mates. The Display of the large tusks of males could have been used to attract females and to intimidate rivals. Because of their curvature, the tusks were unsuitable for stabbing, but may have been used for hitting, as indicated by injuries to some fossil shoulder blades."

Soon the two bull mammoths clashed with their tusks pushing and shoving one another with their foreheads. These fights can become serious even deadly especially if their tusks can get tangled and stuck leading to the end of both mammoths. Eventually, the young bull stepped down and ran off back to the other young bulls. As the dominant bull mammoth trumpeted in victory before joining with the females that are receptive.

French Narrator: "As our heroes came here to find some mammoths, but they're learning a lot more. Like elephants, mammoths seem to have a strong bond between the herd."

They hear a struggle and the sounds of whimpering and high pitched trumpeting. A calf fell into the frozen pond unable to get out and the rest of the herd including the mother gathered around.

Thomas: "Something's wrong down there. There's a calf in a muddy pond. It's on its own and really struggling. They've noticed. Mammoths are going over. If it doesn't get out soon it will die of hypothermia, drowning, or both."

The team had worried scared looks on their faces as they watched the struggle with the calf trying to get out, until the Matriarch showed up.

Thomas: "The matriarch, she's going as well. Come on, girl. It's really in trouble there, a tiny calf. Can't be more than a month or so old."

Dawn: "What are they going to do?"

Mordecai: "We use rope and pull it out?"

Thomas: "No, Wait! Watch, I don't think we need to!"

The matriarch approaches the calf and using her trunk and tusks pulls the calf out of the frozen pond. The calf was out of the pond,cleaned up, and reunited with the herd and its mother.

Thomas: "See? We didn't have to do anything. We just needed to sit here and observe. That's what the matriarch does. Whenever there's trouble, she helps."

SpongeBob: "Should we catch them now?"

French Narrator: "Although they want to bring back the mammoths for the park. But they can't bring back a very big herd. Thomas often decides to go after a small group to make sure it doesn't alter and affect the populations in the past."

Thomas: "We don't need the entire large herd, We only take what we need just one small amount. I was thinking we should go further and find a small herd that dispersed from the mega herd."

The toons agreed and soon left the mega herd of mammoths in search for a small family herd to bring back to the park.

. . . . .

Meanwhile back at the park, Travis was going back over the newest arrivals. The Kids at the holding pens, we;re very excited as this is the first time they're seeing these majestic animals from the bygone era of the Ice Age.

Sid: "Whoa! We got Megaloceros, Wild donkeys, Tarpans,"

Adelaide: "And big chunky unicorns."

Sid: "Um, they're Elasmotheriums."

CJ: "There's even bears and a leopard!"

Bobby: "So when they go back in time, They bring back animals like them like that right?"

Travis: "Yes, this happens most of the time."

Travis nodded his head, a satisfied smile on his face as he and his assembled holding pens team for the day observed the herd of extinct cattle and bison that now graced the main portal site with their presence.

Travis: "It's a good thing they brought back animals easier to handle like the aurochs. If there were bigger ones then it'll be harder.

Keeper: "This should be pretty easy to handle after all those bears, the leopard, and the giant hairy rhinos,"

Becca: "Don't get too comfortable now, An auroch is just as capable of being dangerous as any modern day bull. and they don't really see red. But they haven't got a mammoth yet?"

Travis: "Don't worry they will. But for now, everyone, let's get to work!"

Team: "Yes sir!"