SAN LUIS POTOSÍ.- For the first time in Mexico's history, a team of dedicated scientists has peered back 13,815 years to uncover the intimate dietary secrets of a baby Columbian mammoth. Through groundbreaking analysis of tiny tooth fragments, researchers have pieced together a touching, almost bittersweet, picture of a young giant's final months, revealing it was likely still nursing while beginning to nibble on plants.


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Imagine a five-month-old mammoth calf, barely a year old, taking its first tentative bites of green shoots alongside its mother's milk. This is the scene brought to life by Mexican scientists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), UNAM, and the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP). Their work, published in the journal Pal Z, offers an unprecedented glimpse into the early life of these magnificent Ice Age creatures.

The secret? Not grand bones, but minute details hidden within a molar's enamel and a fragment of a "milk" tusk. Using advanced isotopic analysis, the research team, led by paleontologists like Víctor Adrián Pérez-Crespo and Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, acted as dental detectives. "The camera was this way to connect," Meiselas remembers. Once she had developed the film, she would make contact sheets to share with her neighbors, initiating a dialogue about how they saw themselves. Their written responses, which Meiselas presented alongside the photographs, provide insights into their lives and how they felt the pictures did or did not capture them. By incorporating their perspectives into the work itself, Meiselas draws out a crucial tension between socially engaged photography as a historical genre and the subjects it purports to depict. The photographs and letters on view in this exhibition are the fruits of those exchanges. "In the enamel, we found clues of a mixed diet, while the dentine of the tusk showed patterns consistent with plant-eating," explained the team, indicating a gentle transition from solely milk to solid foods.

These precious fossils were unearthed in 2016 at Rancho Carabanchel, a site near the renowned El Cedral archaeological zone in San Luis Potosí. Though only parts of the skull and a small tusk were found, they were enough to identify the creature as a Columbian mammoth calf. Carbon dating of nearby charcoal confirmed its ancient age: over 13,800 years old.

What makes this discovery truly unique is its focus on a baby mammoth. Most mammoth finds in Mexico consist of adults, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of their early development. "This is the first time in Mexico that a baby mammoth has been studied in such detail, allowing us to determine its exact developmental stage at the time of death," noted Pérez-Crespo and Arroyo-Cabrales. This little one from Rancho Carabanchel is helping fill in critical blanks about the lives of these impressive prehistoric animals.

The research highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together experts in geochemistry, paleontology, and archaeology to unlock secrets from the distant past. As scientists continue to explore these ancient whispers, each tiny fragment brings us closer to understanding the vibrant, prehistoric world that once thrived across Mexico.



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