The Osage orange seeds were carried far across the plains, before being deposited, pre-packed in their fertilizer growbags, ready to take root. As the ice age waned, the milder climate and the mixed vegetation meant the plains were able to support a...
The store of pollen paints a picture of the plains of 13,000 years ago, a picture that looks very different from the open prairie grassland of today. But why did this region look so different back then? The ice sheets to the north, although retreatin...
The site was once a spring-fed pond, full of water. Mammoths were tempted in to drink. But when they tried to climb back out, the banks were steep and slippery. Just like the short-faced bear imprisoned underground, some became trapped. Scavengers wo...
Mud from the ancient riverbanks is good for building nests. lt also holds more evidence that will help us to reconstruct the ice age past. Every now and then,new clues surface, hinting at what else might lie beneath. ln this dried-up pond in South Da...
The death throes of the last great ice age left a signature that we can read today. These giant potholes were left behind by blocks of buried ice that melted, leaving hollows that later filled with water. For thousands of years since then, they've be...
Even the mastodon is buried here, a long dead relative of modern elephants. This was once a bear, but not like any bear in North America today. Claw marks gouged into the cave wall showed the bear was not killed direct by the fall. It made a desperat...
As North America emerged from the grip of the last ice age, the door was opened to outsiders for the very first time. As these early immigrants pushed their way south, they found themselves in a land of an unimaginable opportunity, overflowing with g...
Denver International Airport is coming to life and about to receive the first arrivals today. By midnight, more than 1,500 aircrafts wouldve touched down here, delivering tens of thousands of people to this modern metropolis. But when did people firs...
The lions will have to try elsewhere. Could a bison be a more realistic prospect? The wind whips up again offering cover, and the hunters focus on a target on the fringes of the herd. Before long the carcass freezes and becomes difficult to eat. Aban...
One giant short-faced bear is more than a match for two lions. But in this bitter climate, lions cant afford to go without a meal for long. A mammoth calf in its first winter is a tempting sight. But mammoths are attentive mothers and they have the b...