There is something missing from our world; the amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever?
We're going back in time on a safari with a difference as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven and animal enthusiast Fluttershy plunge into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. Their plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance.
Their next adventure is into the Ice Age, where they'll come face to face with a woolly rhino, survive a showdown with a mighty bull, run for their lives from a colossal cave bear, and attempt to solve the mystery of what is killing the last mammoths on Earth.
Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park.
A new day begins at Prehistoric Park. It has been over a month since the rescue mission to the late Cretaceous. Things have been going well, and everyone couldn't be happier.
Prehistoric Park is starting to come to life. Amongst the hills and valleys of this huge reserve, dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are getting used to their surroundings. One day, Nigel Marven plans to breed extinct animals in captivity. But for now, he's starting off by only bringing a few of each species back to see if they can adapt to the 21st century. Aiding him is animal enthusiast and Canterlot High student Fluttershy.
Feeding time at T-rex Hill, and the duo stopped by to see how things were getting along.
The Park's latest newcomers seem to be settling in well.
"Just a bit more... Stop right there! Right, keep the tension at the back." Park keeper Bob ordered as he and several other able-bodied men were busy operating a makeshift wooden crane, with a generous slab of meat hoisted by a rope. So preoccupied were they by their work, they hardly noticed Nigel and Fluttershy stepping out of the park jeep to investigate.
"What an ingenious contraption!" said Nigel. "How are they doing?"
"I'm guessing that this is Twilight’s handiwork?" asked Fluttershy thoughtfully, looking up at the mechanism.
"Not bad, but they're big beasts with big appetites." the head keeper replied. "Aye, Twilight actually designed this crane to help feed the T-rexes without losin' an arm or a leg."
Head Park Keeper Bob and his team are facing their first big challenge: keeping the Park's T-rex family happy.
Drawn in by the smell of fresh meat, the T-rexes, brother and sister Terence and Matilda, sprang out of the undergrowth before the edge of the fence, eagerly awaiting their lunch, while their parents slept in the shade, having eaten their full.
When Nigel and Fluttershy found them, Terence and his sister Matilda had nearly been orphaned after their mother, Sue, was injured in a fight, if not for the ferocious intervention by their father, Stan. The duo managed to save them from certain death just seconds before a massive meteorite hit.
The keepers hoisted the rope with all their combined strength, lifting the dainty morsel directly over the paddock.
"Take it away!" shouted Bob. "Yeah, all right, bring that 'round."
Feeding the T-rex juveniles means meat and plenty of it. When they arrived at the Park, the two were half-starved, but they've been making up for it ever since.
Seeing the meat coming their way, the two carnivores raced to the feeding station with open jaws.
"I'm not telling Bob everything about T-rex feeding habits, he'd be so depressed!" Nigel whispered to the film crew and Fluttershy, who snickered.
The crane moved in a counterclockwise motion, coming to a complete stop once it was directly overhead of the hungry T-rex siblings.
T-rex babies grow incredibly fast. Terence and Matilda will add hundreds of pounds to their weight every year until they grow to the length of a double-decker bus and weigh ten tons.
The voracious young dinosaurs snapped at the hunk of meat, making leaps at the suspended morsel hanging just out of reach.
"They're voracious, aren't they?" Nigel remarked. "Look at that, leaping for that!"
"Yeah. They're hungry enough. They definitely want that meat." Fluttershy observed. It was time to let them have it.
The instant that the meat was dropped, the T-rexes were quickly upon it, ripping and tearing away mouthful after mouthful.
"You see those teeth?" said Nigel. "They've got serrated teeth like sharks and they're slicing off chunks of flesh. No wonder they eat so much! They're polishing that off!"
"And when they reach full size, their teeth will become broad railroad spikes designed for crushing and smashing bone." added the animal enthusiast, pulling out a fossilized tooth of a grown rex.
"I wouldn't wanna be in there, I'll tell you that!" Nigel remarked, earning laughs from everyone present. Inside of the enclosure, Matilda quickly asserted her dominance and staked her claim on the meat. Terence could only look on helplessly as his larger, more dominant sister dragged the meal to a shadier place to eat. He would have to wait his turn.
Now Nigel's planning his next adventure. He's decided to rescue one of the most famous of all extinct animals, the woolly mammoth, a long-lost relative of modern-day elephants.
Before their planned departure, the duo decided to pay a visit to the park's resident herd of African elephants. The dozen or so pachyderms spent much of their day eating and relaxing in the coolness of their favorite mud wallows under the care of their keepers.
"This is Jomo." said Fluttershy, introducing the adorable elephant calf to the audience. "He's the herd’s baby African elephant." Jomo gave a squeaky trumpet as if in response to the introductions.
"We adore elephants," said Nigel fondly. "And of course, they have a long history."
"There were many different species of elephant in the past, such as deinotheres, gomphotheres, stegodonts, and of course, the mastodons and mammoths." Fluttershy informed, standing beside a grown cow, Asali, the herd’s matriarch and the calf’s mother. She patted her on the shoulder, offering a treat which she happily accepted.
Nigel nodded as he added, "People think they had the same family life, the same social history, but I want to do is to travel back in time and find out whether that's true, and maybe even bring a woolly mammoth or two back to Prehistoric Park." he then turned to the matriarch, leaning against her wrinkled face. "Would you like to meet a woolly mammoth?" he cooed. "You would, would you?"
As in any conservation project, it's the most endangered animals Nigel wants to rescue, so he's got to travel back to the time that mammoths were on their last legs. That was at the end of the lce Age. Freezing plains were the home to huge herds of mammoths, but 11,000 years ago, it all changed. Their world was turned upside down because of global warming.
The ice was disappearing and so were the mammoths.
After spending the morning with the elephants, the duo gathered at headquarters to get their expedition under way.
"This is at the end of the last lce Age." said Nigel, gesturing to the map on the wall, the world looking vastly similar to its present state with the exception of glaciers fringing along the north. "And what was happening, it was still cold, but the ice sheets, they were receding northwards, and the mammoths were going there too."
"According to Twilight’s research, the last surviving mammoths on the mainland were found here, just east of the Urals in Siberia. And that's where we need to go!" Fluttershy said.
By going back to the brink of extinction, they'll see for themselves what killed off these magnificent beasts and get their chance to save the woolly mammoth. The time portal is set to take them back to the last lce Age, 11,000 years ago.
*Siberia, 11,000 years ago...
Two snowmobiles drifted over a vast frozen lake ringed by mighty mountains. On its shores was a seemingly endless ocean of green trees. Aside from the howling winds and the calls of various arctic birds, the land was eerily silent.
Here in the lce Age, the warming of the climate has already changed this world. What once was rich, open grassland covered in grazing mammoths has now been invaded by dense forest.
This is no place for a mammoth. Finding the last ones left alive is not going to be easy.
After what felt like an eternity, the snowmobiles stopped in the middle of a snow covered clearing, surrounded by various conifer trees like spruce, pines, and firs just to name a few.
"We've gone for miles in this forest, it just seems so limitless." said Fluttershy, taking in the scenery.
"The climate's warming, and weevil beetles can survive on pine needles, but a six-ton mammoth, no way, there's just not enough nutrition." added Nigel.
"We're seeing the beginnings of the taiga, or boreal forest, the largest land biome in the world." Fluttershy informed. "It stretches throughout the high northern latitudes."
It's this lack of good food that's brought the mammoth population to its knees. It looks like there’s nothing but trees here.
The two had fewer options but to move on, pushing deeper into the woods.
But at last, the duo finds something to break the monotony: A prehistoric cave they can’t resist exploring.
After leaving their snowmobiles parked close by, the two approached the mouth of the cave. Just then, a low, rumbling snarl echoed throughout the cavern. The duo slowly backed out of the mouth of the cave.
"No sudden moves." cautioned Nigel. Another growl could be heard bouncing off the cave walls, before a huge, hairy figure emerged from the shadows. Soon, the beast let out a thundering roar.
The duo has chosen the wrong creature to disturb.
As the beast rose to his full height on his hind legs, Nigel and Fluttershy made a hasty retreat, tripping and tumbling over the snow. Knowing that the ill-tempered brute would overtake them in the time it would take to reach the snowmobiles, they bolted for the trees.
Cave bears stand 11 feet tall, and weighing up to 2,000 pounds, they’re an animal not to be messed with!
Moments later, the monstrous bear gave chase!
"Get moving!" Nigel urged. They could hear the huffing breath of the colossus, the snapping of twigs and branches as he crashed through the undergrowth, water splashing as he ran through a shallow puddle.
"Split up! He can't follow us both!" shouted Fluttershy, willing herself not to look back as the massive bruin was gaining on them!
Nigel quickened his pace as the bear was literally at his heels. "Run! Run! Drop the camera if you have to! Just move, move, move! MOVE!"
The cameraman was not so lucky; the cave bear succeeded in tripping over his prey, and there was nowhere to run. The hulking bruin rose upon his hind legs, easily towering over the unfortunate human. With a terrifying roar, he brought his paw down in one tremendous swipe.
Then everything faded to black.
Prehistoric cave bears may be huge, but luckily, they can't climb trees.
The screen was hazy at first as the cameraman regained consciousness, dazed and disoriented but very much alive.
"There you are, I'm up here!" came Nigel's voice from overhead. The camera was pointed upwards to reveal the zoologist perched among the branches of a spruce tree, too high for even the towering cave bear to reach. "I'm sorry about that." he said apologetically as he made his way down. "I was sure they were extinct...at this time." Cupping his hands to his mouth, the Englishman called out into the wilderness, "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Where are you?"
"Over here!" came the reply from Fluttershy as she clambered down from a nearby tree. "What an exciting find! A surviving cave bear!" She exclaimed. "We've got to go and see it."
Nigel agreed, albeit more cautiously. "I hear you, mate. But we definitely need to be more careful. And as long as we don't startle it, it won't charge again, and we can watch it foraging."
Having decided, the duo slowly retraced their steps back towards the cave. They were quiet and extremely careful in their approach, careful to keep downwind, lest they startle the bear upon the slightest sound or scent. The bear in question lingered for a while in the clearing, occasionally sniffing the air as if to make sure that the two interlopers did well to stay away.
"There he is." Nigel whispered. "I can tell he's a male cave bear. The female has much smaller proportions."
"He's a big one!" the animal enthusiast interjected quietly. "11 feet tall on his hind legs. And maybe around 2,000 pounds. As big as a cave bear gets."
"I'm certain he was hibernating in that cave and what he's doing is he's packing in berries and the early spring vegetation," said the English naturalist. "Cave bears are not very carnivorous. They feed on anything."
"But they're mostly vegetarians, so he wasn't hunting us." said Fluttershy.
"Because we disturbed him, that's why he chased us." Nigel replied.
"Guess somebody woke up on the wrong side of the cave." Fluttershy remarked before she heaved a heavy sigh. "Sad to think that he might be the last of his kind."
Nigel frowned in understanding. "Yeah. Cave bears won't be around for much longer. Best we move on."
Nigel can't save every endangered animal he finds, so this time he lets sleeping bears lie. But Mother Nature has other plans for the bear.
While Nigel and Fluttershy boarded their snowmobiles, they soon heard the sounds of panting and heaving as they turned to face it. The bear looked like it was about to collapse. There was a brief wobble in the cave bear's front legs, and with a weakened growl, Nigel and Fluttershy took note of a detail that they'd failed to notice; it was limping on its right hind leg and there were gashes on its back.
“Waking hibernating bears can be downright lethal.” Nigel informed. “It requires a lot of energy, depleting reserves that are key to surviving the winter. There’s a mortality rate in cave bears and dying during hibernation is a common end for them.”
Then things got worse, with one last growl and, the cave bear collapsed onto the snowy slope, at least an inch or so away from the cave entrance, groaning in defeat.
With no energy left and weakened from the disturbance, this cave bear is on the verge of death. That is if Fluttershy has anything to say about it.
Before Nigel could say anything, Fluttershy dismounted her snowmobile and calmly made her way over to the exhausted cave bear, immediately beginning to speak as she did so.
"It's alright," she said, her voice soft and soothing. "Everything's alright now. I'm gonna have a look at you and then send you somewhere safe..."
It was at this point she made it directly in front of the bear, and he lifted his head and snarled at her, opening his eyes in the process.
Fluttershy got down on her knees and carefully extended her hand towards the still cave bear's right shoulder. The bear growled, a wary look in his eyes, but was too tired and weak to do anything else, and eventually calmed down with a low grunt as she patted her hand upon his right shoulder.
"There there," she said, not once changing her soft and soothing tone. "There we go. I'm not going to hurt you. It's alright. Nothing bad's going to happen. You'll be safe real soon, I promise." She looked over the bear and back to Nigel. "He’s too weak to move, especially with that leg of his. He'll freeze to death out here."
"I'm guessing that means he's going to the park?" Nigel said.
Fluttershy just nodded her head.
A few minutes later, Suzanne was all bundled up and standing by the cave bear, with a similarly bundled up clad Sunset and Rainbow standing at either side of her, the former for veterinary assistance and the latter for defense just in case the bear tried to attack, with the portal glowing and reflecting behind them. Suzanne nodded her head as she continued examining the bear.
"He needs treatment – urgently."
"Couldn't agree more," said Rainbow Dash. She shivered. "Sheesh," she hissed. "I'm freezing out here."
"Join the club," Sunset grumbled, her teeth gritted and visibly chattering.
Suzanne looked to Nigel and Fluttershy. "Think you two could help us get him loaded?"
Nigel nodded. "Absolutely."
And so, Suzanne, Sunset, Rainbow, Nigel, and Fluttershy, plus two other Prehistoric Park veterinary personnel proceeded to load the exhausted cave bear onto a large heavy-duty stretcher and carried him the short distance between them and a veterinary truck waiting immediately at the entrance of the open portal. Once the bear had been loaded, the back door of the truck was closed, and Suzanne, Sunset, and Rainbow boarded the driver's section. Before they left, Suzanne peeked out the driver's side window and looked at Fluttershy and Nigel. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll make sure he gets all the care he needs."
And at that, she got back into the truck and got the vehicle moving. Once the truck had disappeared through the fabric of time, Fluttershy closed the portal.
"Let's get a move on, shall we?" Nigel said with finality as he packed up the portal rods. "If we're lucky, the cave bear won't be the only animal we bring back to Prehistoric Park."
With the cave bear safely transported back to the present, it's time to get back to business on finding a mammoth.
The two snowmobiles roared to life as the duo continued on their way. The further they went from the now deserted cave, the more and more trees they spied. The endless cycle continued on for what felt like hours.
Nigel decides the best way to spot a mammoth is to get up high and scout the terrain.
He and Fluttershy made the arduous climb up a rocky hill which overlooked the entire forest. Once they reached the top, the sight that greeted them, much to their irritation and disappointment, was an endless ocean of trees stretching for miles on end.
"It's so disappointing to come back 11,000 years to mammoth country and all I can see is trees, trees, thousands of them. As far as the eye can see." the English naturalist grumbled through his binoculars.
"Mammoths need plains and grasslands, and there's none of that anywhere here." The animal lover stated as she counted perhaps her millionth tree; she lost count partway.
"We could’ve gone to Wrangel Island.” Nigel said. "There were mammoths surviving there at the same time that the pyramids were being built. But there’s two problems with that. One: we're looking for giant mammoths. The ones in Wrangel Island were dwarfs compared to their mainland counterparts, and second: DNA analysis has shown that the population suffered severe defects due to generations of inbreeding. In short, the mammoths of Wrangel Island were already doomed from the start."
Fluttershy heaved a sigh before exchanging a worried glance to Nigel. “I just hope we're able to find a mammoth before... you know."
The changing habitat isn’t the only reason the duo is struggling to find a mammoth. They know there's another factor that has driven them to the brink of extinction.
Mammoths were hunted by Ice Age men.
As the unofficial leader, it was Nigel who proposed a possible solution, spying an unexplored section of land. "I think our only chance is a break over there at the base of the mountains. There may be some grassland and maybe we can find them there."
Without a moment to lose, the two started their vehicles. They now had a direction to follow.
And then a clue that a mammoth may not be too far away.
Destination in mind, the pair descended down the hill when the animal enthusiast noticed a peculiar object half buried in the snow.
"Hey, Nigel! Check this out!" Fluttershy shouted, gaining the attention of Nigel who froze in his tracks. He came to investigate.
"What is it?" Nigel inquired.
"I just saw it gleaming in the snow, right out of the corner of my eye." Fluttershy responded, presenting the finding in her hands. "Looks like it's been carved from a mammoth tusk."
The teenager handed him the ivory piece. The Englishman then blew into the hole, producing a sharp, musical whistle.
Nigel chuckled. "Some kind of instrument."
"If this hasn't been here too long, the hunters could still be around." Fluttershy deduced.
"And if they're around, the mammoths could be too." added Nigel, following his trail of thought.
"Then we gotta hurry!" cried Fluttershy, racing back to her snowmobile. Nigel did the same.
But as they do, they’re about to encounter something from a bygone era.
Two fast moving shapes sped through the ice and snow of the taiga forest, strange and foreign sights to many a deer or hare passing by. As they continued to ride on the forest, they then noticed something. A herd of herbivores, digging through the snow, looking for what little food there was. The great majority could be easily recognized and, while some had become rare, they needed no second chances at Prehistoric Park.
In that spot, there was a red deer stag with a small harem of females, some muskoxen and some reindeer.
But one animal seemed to have gained their attention. It looked like an oversized version of a Spanish Fighting Bull.
It looked at the two, who were still at a decent distance, and while the other animals were somewhat nervous, the bull didn’t seem to care.
This beast doesn’t know how special he is for the duo at this moment.
“We weren’t expecting to see this guy all the way up here. That’s a male Aurochs, the ancestor to all cattle today. Herds of these animals could still be found in the forests of Poland of the 500’s.” Nigel informed.
“Yeah, imagine this big guy chasing you in the streets of Pamplona!” Fluttershy said. “We’re looking for mammoths, but this is still an amazing animal.”
Unlike many other animals, it was said that the Aurochs didn’t fear humans. Rather, it attacked once someone got too close. A well-motivated fighting bull can destroy a car and launch a man several feet in the air. An Aurochs, a way bigger animal, could do even more than that.
After having set up the time portal, Fluttershy picked up a spare jacket she borrowed from Rarity out of her backpack and started waving it in front of the bull. The Aurochs seemed ticked off from the display.
“What most people got wrong about bulls is that old myth being that they hate the color red.” Fluttershy explained. “In reality, they’re partially colorblind. They lack the red retina receptor and can only see yellow, green, blue, and purple. It’s actually the movement that ticks them off. And I think it’s working.”
As Fluttershy continued waving the jacket at the animal, it began to show its growing fury. It lowered its head, showing its powerful horns as it snorted and pawed the ground several times.
It seems Fluttershy has caught this Ice Age bull's attention.
Then, without warning, the bull charged at Fluttershy at an alarming speed, catching her by surprise. Fortunately, the portal was right behind right. As she immediately dived out of the way, the bull, unable to change its trajectory, charged right through, into the 21st century.
Fluttershy turned to Nigel and smirked. “Olé.”
Suddenly, the deathly silence of the forest was broken by distant trumpeting calls.
"Shh. Shh!" Nigel quickly ushered everyone to silence. "I think I hear something."
The sound broke out again, allowing them to pinpoint exactly where it came from. "Over there, I think."
The duo wasted no time in boarding their snowmobiles to follow the harrowing calls to their source.
But the two are in for a shock.
The search led the pair to the edge of a shallow creek where there was a wide clearing almost completely devoid of trees on the other side. But that was not all. Standing on the opposite bank were two gigantic creatures that greatly resemble a modern-day elephant, save for the massive ivory tusks and a characteristic coat of course, shaggy hair, reddish brown in color. There was absolutely no mistaking the identity of these animals, forever immortalized within the memory of mankind.
"Mammoths!" cried Fluttershy as she pulled out her binoculars. "And there might be more than one!"
Nigel did, likewise, getting a closer look.
"There's three," he confirmed. "There's one down. It looks like there's a mammoth trap. The third one's not moving at all."
Fluttershy gasped in horror at the news.
"We'll try to get in closer, but there's something not right." Slowly as not to scare the mammoths, the twosome drove their vehicles as close as possible, stopping just short of the riverbank.
It looks like lce Age hunters have beaten them to it.
It was too late for one of the mammoths.
"I thought as much. This is a killing field." said Nigel grimly as he gestured at the prostrate form of the fallen mammoth. "The hunters, they've dug a pit, covered it with snow. The mammoth's fallen in, they've speared her to death."
"The other two are staying by their dead herd mate." murmured Fluttershy, despairingly, sadness welling up in her pink eyes. The mammoths refused to abandon their fallen comrade as they stood by, distressed and powerless.
"These could be one of the last mammoths remaining on mainland Siberia."
She then froze. "Listen."
They could both hear two low, guttural rumbling sounds, not unlike the roar of a motor.
"Oh, that is heart-rending! They’re making this grumbling sound with their stomachs." Nigel informed whatever heartbroken audiences were watching the tragic scene. Blind and deaf to the rest of the world, the lone surviving mammoths continued their crooning rumbling call.
"They’re trying to communicate with their dead herd mate." whispered Fluttershy in sad realization.
"It's a stomach rumble which they do." the Englishman stated.
"Of course, they’re not gonna get a response." murmured Fluttershy sadly.
As though seeing the futility of her efforts, one of the beasts turned away, head hanging so low that her tusks nearly touched the ground. "And that one looks sick." Nigel observed. "Head held low, ears close against her head."
Nigel and Fluttershy crossed the frigid creek, slowly and cautiously making their way towards the mammoth who was now struggling to stand. It was then that the distraught creature saw the two humans, the same creatures that had so mercilessly slain her herd mate. She tried in vain to stand on the defensive, but the fire was gone from her eyes.
"You're okay, sweetheart." said Nigel reassuringly. "Keep calm."
Her strength was beginning to fail her. The beast gave a low, pitiful bellow as she finally succumbed to gravity, falling to her knees. Starvation and her lonely and fruitless vigil were taking their toll.
"Easy, girl." said Fluttershy in a soft and gentle tone. "We're not gonna hurt you."
They were now just feet away from the fallen giant. "We've got two females here- dainty, straight tusks." said the English naturalist, taking a closer look. "All male mammoths have much bigger tusks, corkscrew curves...at the end."
"She must've stayed behind to defend her herd mates," Fluttershy deduced sadly. "And they hurt her as well."
"Hello, girl." Nigel said gently to the defenseless creature. The other mammoth soon noticed the two humans, let out a loud, trumpeting bellow, and charged right at them.
Barely getting out of the way in time, Nigel and Fluttershy stood, rigid, as the mammoth stamped her foot, bellowed and walked back to her injured herd mate.
"She's so weak, she can hardly lift her trunk." the pink-haired girl observed pitifully. “And the other mammoth might be her sister, that’s why she’s being so defensive.”
"And it's likely that the one that's been killed could be their mother." the English zoologist theorized sadly, looking at the prone figure of the dead mammoth, laying in a frozen pool of reddened snow and broken branches, her shaggy hide pelted with long spears.
Nigel and Fluttershy approached the body for closer analysis. The sight left them completely devastated.
"Mammoth populations got smaller because of climate change, but it was this that drove them to extinction - over-hunting by early peoples." said a distraught Nigel, turning to the camera crew.
"And not just mammoths, but many of the large mammals around the world are dying out at this time. Many of them, at the hands of humans." said Fluttershy bitterly, placing a hand on one of the fallen giant's tusks. She then looked to the living with newfound determination; she wouldn’t let them take two more if she could help it.
The Englishman was the one to drive the point home. "The most horrifying thing is they didn't know any better, but we're still doing this sort of thing to rare animals in the 21st century."
As they turned their attention towards the surviving mammoths, Fluttershy’s eyes spotted something half buried in the snow next to the injured pachyderm. She picked up her finding, which looked to be a straightened, polished stick made from unusually black wood, before backing off, not wanting to provoke another charge from the other sister. "Check this out."
"Maybe this is why she looks poorly." Nigel replied. It was all coming together.
"Looks like a broken spear." said Fluttershy.
"She and her sister were probably defending their mum in the pit, and she was attacked as well." the English naturalist theorized. He gestured to the mammoth's left shoulder. "There's a wound in the shoulder, and it looks like it's starting to swell. We've got to do something quickly or it could flare up to a serious infection."
It was Fluttershy who asked the question that was on both of their minds: "What are we gonna do?"
Nigel and Fluttershy are faced with a dilemma. Right now, one of the mammoths is too weak to walk through the time portal. But if they leave, the hunters could come back to finish her and her sister off. Somehow, they need to get her back on her feet.
The English naturalist pulled out a radio from his coat pocket.
They call in their team who are scouting nearby.
"We've got a mammoth down." he announced urgently over his radio. "A very sick mammoth who needs rescuing, so if you can get here as soon as you can please."
"Don't worry, girl." Fluttershy assured the ailing beast, wanting to stroke her good shoulder. "Help is on the way." The stricken mammoth only lowed miserably in response as her sister watched on.
*Back in the 21st century...
Back at the Park, Head Keeper Bob's busy with problems of his own. He's having trouble looking after some of the dinosaurs Nigel and Fluttershy had already brought back. He had decided to treat Struthiomimus like ostriches and put them in a paddock, but they aren't doing well here. They just won't eat the grass.
"I thought, 'well they look like an ostrich, they've got a mainly vegetarian diet', so I put them in an ostrich enclosure." the head keeper told the cameraman. "Now that was an easy mistake to make because although an Sturthiomimus might look like, and in many ways act like an ostrich's prehistoric cousin, they don't like ostrich feed."
But Bob’s noticed that these dinosaurs have more in common with Roadrunner than an Emu.
"The answer lies in their teeth or rather lack of them. A Struthiomimus hasn't got any teeth. It’s once thought that they fed like ducks and geese, looking for food in the water, but nowadays it’s believed that they were the Roadrunners of the Cretaceous, feeding on insects, lizards, leaves and small mammals. And I think I just have the perfect treat for them.
As he entered the Struthiomimus paddock, he came with a large wheelbarrow. Inside, it was filled to the brim with mealworms, crickets and some lettuce, which quickly got the dinosaurs’ attention. They lunged forward and started a feeding frenzy.
In less of a minute, the wheelbarrow’s completely empty.
Bob simply laughs. “Well, I’d say that worked well! The paddock seems fine for them, it was their diet that caused some problems. The important thing is keeping their diet variegated. I’ll have to work on a feeding schedule for them, deciding when they get to eat something rather than something else.”
Back in Ice Age Siberia...
Back in the Ice Age, it's not long before the team arrives with some antibiotics. It's the only way to fight the infection that is rapidly taking over the mammoth's body.
"We're here!" cried Twilight as she disembarked her personal snowmobile. Normally the bookworm utterly despised the bitter cold, but the chance to meet her favorite extinct animal was a once in a lifetime opportunity too good to pass up. She jumped at the opportunity to travel to the Pleistocene.
To Fluttershy and Nigel, her timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Twilight! Thank goodness you're here!" cried the animal enthusiast.
"Where's the mammoth?" she asked. Fluttershy frowned sadly as she gestured towards the gargantuan figure laying in the snow. Twilight gasped, immediately smitten by the magnificent appearance of the renowned Ice Age icon. Her fascination quickly turned into horror upon seeing the poor creature's miserable state. Fluttershy was quick to fill her in. The wounded mammoth was startled to see more humans arriving on the scene and tried desperately to move away, but her infirmity prevented her from either fleeing or fighting back.
"It's a really desperate situation. We're gonna lose her if we don't do anything." Nigel told the cameraman gravely. "One in four elephants, once they go down, they never get up again."
"We just gotta hope she's back on her feet by morning, and we can get her back to Prehistoric Park and look after her properly," said Fluttershy.
"Don't worry, sweetie. This will only hurt a bit." Nigel and Fluttershy looked on sadly as Twilight fired an anesthetic dart into the behemoth's shaggy hide. The mammoth seemed to calm, becoming drowsy as the drugs began to take effect, her breaths becoming gentle gusts as she slowly drifted into unconsciousness. Her suffering, for the time being, was eased. The burning pain on her shoulder was soon forgotten, becoming as chilled as the surrounding winter cold.
The inventor kneeled before the sleeping giant, gently stroking the base of her trunk.
*Several hours later...**
That evening, the team had set up camp in the clearing. They were close enough to monitor the mammoth's health and progress, yet far enough as not to make her or her sister uneasy.
"Nigel! Fluttershy!"
It's evening, and the hunters are back to claim their prize.
Tensions were high as one of the crew members spotted three figures standing over the rise, looking intently in their general direction. It became frighteningly clear that they were not alone.
Nigel quickly went to check on the mammoth, he found that Twilight was already there. In fact, she hardly ever left the beast's side, monitoring her health every now and again. "What's going on?" she asked, noticing the commotion around camp.
"Everyone's a little bit nervous." Nigel replied. Fluttershy soon joined them.
"We think the hunters are coming in closer." added Fluttershy seriously.
Twilight gasped. "Oh no! We can't let them get to her!"
"Don't worry." the English naturalist reassured. "We were gonna take it in shifts to watch her through the night,"
"I’ll take the first watch." stated Fluttershy. She then walked off to watch the perimeter.
The inventor smiled gratefully. That quickly faded as the infirm pachyderm gave a pitiful moan. "Poor thing. She's so sick, you just feel she needs some companionship."
The sleeping mammoth was blissfully unaware of the rising stakes, still under the influence of the painkillers and antibiotics. Nigel reached out to stroke the prostate trunk, the fingers barely twitching in response.
The other mammoth had been quietly observing him and his companions this whole time – unsure of what to make of this strange behavior.
Fluttershy turned to her and said, "You see? We mean no harm." There was a brief moment of quiet as the two regarded each other…
As night falls, the prospect of easy meat attracts some more unwanted visitors.
As darkness fell over the taiga, the primordial night was filled with the eerie howls and cackling of the Ice Age predators, drawn by the smell of blood, prowling in the shadows. Needless to say, the haunting nocturnal orchestra was enough to put everyone on edge. Three beams of light moved across the edge of the black forest, scanning for any potential threats.
"There's cave hyenas prowling," Fluttershy told the camera crew, wearing a headlamp, while Nigel was using his flashlight to scan the blackness. They presently fell upon the glowing eyes of a spotted figure skulking in the shadows. "You can tell by their yellow eyeshine."
The whooping of the hyenas was joined by a series of spine chilling howls, the voices of gregarious and tenacious predators that will persist long after the era of the mammoth would end.
"There's wolves farther away," said Nigel. "If they come closer, their eyes will shine green."
Adding to the uncanny, monotonous choruses of the wolves were low, haunting baritone roars. The duo quickly recognized those ominous sounds; they would be heard in a much later age, rumbling like thunder over savannas far to the south of the ice.
"Hear that?" asked Fluttershy. "Sounds like lions."
Twilight was puzzled. "Lions? In Siberia?"
Fluttershy nodded. "During the Ice Age, lions were very widespread. They inhabited every continent except Australia and Antarctica."
"Cave lions." added Nigel. "They're much bigger than modern day lions." As scary and otherworldly as the calls of the mighty Pleistocene carnivora were, they were unsurprisingly the least of their worries. "And the worst predator of all, the human hunters know that the kill is there."
And humans have no eye shine at all, so they're the hardest to spot. It’s going to be a long night.
Suddenly, several gray figures erupted out of the shadows, barking and snarling. Eyes glowing, jaws salivating, the pack of wolves charged straight towards the defenseless mammoth! Alerted by the scent and noise of the wolves, the fallen beast bellowed in alarm, swinging her massive tusks from side to side to ward off her attackers.
Nigel and Fluttershy were quick to rush to the mammoth's defense. "No! No! Get away, get away! Leave her!" Nigel shouted, waving his arms and his flashlight at the predators. "Leave her!"
But the scent of blood seemed to make them bolder as they growled and snapped their teeth. Soon the team found themselves completely surrounded!
"They're getting in!" cried Fluttershy.
"Oh my lord," muttered the boom operator, holding out his boom mic defensively in front of him as a wolf locked its jaws on the 'dead wombat', shaking it like a rag doll.
Armed with only a flip flop, Twilight wung it from side to side in an attempt to scare away the voracious canines. To one wolf that came too close for comfort, she gave it a sound smack on the nose, causing it to whimper away.
Fluttershy was laying down on her back, trying desperately to hold back the snapping jaws from her neck. But the canine was shortly driven off by a shouting Nigel, who waved his flashlight while another one made off with the microphone covers.
"Get back here with the mic you crazy mutt!"
"There's too many of them!" shouted the English naturalist.
Suddenly, a loud bellow echoed through the night, followed by a loud thwack, as a wolf was flung from out of nowhere over Nigel’s head. Stunned with surprise and confusion, Nigel turned to see the large female mammoth standing beside him.
Now the tables have turned; the very earth seemed to tremble as the mammoth stampeded in the midst of the clearing, scattering the wolves in all directions, stomping with her heavy feet and swinging her fearsome tusked head side to side.
The alpha wolf reconsidered his options and ran away, whimpering with his tail tucked between his legs. Soon the rest of the pack followed his example and retreated back into the dense forest.
"That's it. They've had enough." said Fluttershy, watching the fleeing wolves.
Nigel heaved a sigh. "They're backing off!"
Once they were certain the wolves were gone, the three quickly went to check on the ailing mammoth. To their relief, she appeared to be alright.
The duo have managed to ward off the wolves, but they know their job is far from done. The mammoth is only safe if they can keep the rest of the predators at bay.
"That was way too close!" panted Nigel, walking towards the slain mammoth carcass in the pit where he began to gather bundles of twigs and branches. Once he had assembled a fair sized pile, the English naturalist set them alight. "I think we ought to build a ring of fire around the mammoths. That should keep the wolves from coming back–"
"Behind you, Nigel!" Fluttershy cried out and the standing mammoth trumpeted a warning, the latter’s senses detecting an unseen threat lurking in the shadows. Nigel whirled around just in time to come face to face with the golden eyes and glistening fangs of a massive cat!
"Agh! Cave lion!" he shouted, waving his flaming torch before the huge tawny feline which stood over two feet at the shoulder, meaning it was a young juvenile. The gigantic lion swiped at the torch, growling his displeasure as his tail was flicking in agitation, canine teeth shining like daggers in the firelight. The zoologist jumped back to avoid the paw swipe, but in doing so, he had unwittingly dropped his only defense sizzling in the snow.
Directly in front of him, the massive feline snarled, its eyes narrowing further as it glanced ferociously at him, yet also perhaps seemingly in...
...pain?
Then Fluttershy noticed a rather important detail, and her eyes widened. "Nigel," she whispered, "Look at his left side."
Nigel did so, and his eyes widened as he saw a vicious looking gash. "Poor thing. From the looks of it, it was probably an aurochs, maybe the same one we rescued."
He then looked at Fluttershy and Twilight. "He'll definitely need medical attention once he gets back to the park. Twilight, you stay there for now while Fluttershy, see if you can calm him down."
Twilight raised her eyebrow, half irked that Nigel was giving her orders and half nervous about how Fluttershy was going to walk up to a big cat – even an injured one. But eventually, she nodded her head to indicate that she understood and that Fluttershy was free to get to work.
With a deep breath, Fluttershy cautiously started moving towards the lion, her right hand slowly extending out towards the beast as she made her way over. "Easy now," she said, her voice as soft and soothing as she could manage. "I'm not going to hurt you." The lion snarled, his yellow eyes remaining narrowed and his head briefly leaning forward as if to try to startle Fluttershy into backing away, but then slightly winced as if the movement had aggravated his wound. "Now, now, it's alright, it's alright," Fluttershy said, just barely managing to avoid losing her soft and soothing tone. "Like I said," she continued while also slowly making her way towards the lion. "I'm not going to hurt you."
For what felt like an eternity, Fluttershy continued slowly making her way towards the lion, speaking calmly and soothingly the entire time to ensure that the lion was hopefully calmed down as well and would have little reason to feel the need to attack. The lion snarled a couple more times, but finally calmed down enough to let Fluttershy place her hand gently upon its brow. As Fluttershy stood absolutely still with her right hand firmly upon the lion's furry forehead, the lion panted heavily in a mixture of caution, curiosity, and exhaustion. "There, there," Fluttershy said soothingly, her voice miraculously hiding her nervousness, "Everything's ok. You'll be safe now. I promise. Just relax and stay calm. You'll be taken very good care of real soon. I can assure you of that." The lion snarled one more time, his yellow eyes narrowed once more, before he relaxed.
Nigel nodded his head. "Good job there," he whispered. "Didn't think you could do it."
A few minutes later, Sunset had once again come to Ice Age Siberia.
"Suzanne would’ve joined me, but she was busy with the cave bear you rescued.” Sunset said, a reassuring smile on her face as she pointed towards the lion. "We'll take good care of him."
"I certainly hope so," Fluttershy said, a warm smile of relief on her face directed towards Sunset before she nodded her head and regained focus on the current task at hand. "I'll see if I can help get him in."
In the end, it took almost a few minutes to get the lion in, but, eventually, they succeeded; at which point he collapsed exhaustedly onto the truck floor and passed out from the burning pain in his side, growling weakly from pain and exhaustion.
Sunset looked back to the trio and flashed them a thumbs up.
"We'll take good care of that lion," said Sunset as she departed back through the portal. "Make sure you guys come back safe and sound."
"Will do," said Nigel, a confident smile on his face as he flashed a thumbs up to Sunset.
Once Sunset had departed through the portal with the rescued lion, Nigel closed the portal.
The standing mammoth and her injured companion, meanwhile, observed this whole scene and were rather confused and a little curious as to what they saw; How did those humans manage to make the lion and another member of their tribe seemingly vanish in a burst of light?
Soon, the trio were not taking any further chances; taking a single flaming branch from the newly made campfire, they set up numerous torches in the snow, effectively creating a ring of fire around the fallen beast. But while the fire kept the wolves and other lions at bay, it would do little to dissuade other, more daunting predators. Twilight was busy making her rounds around the perimeter when a rustling from the trees got her attention.
"Guys, we have company!"
As Twilight went to get her flashlight, the other two ran over to investigate the sudden commotion. They did not like what they saw.
"The hunters," said Nigel. "They've been skirting at the edge of the forest. I knew they'd return for the kill."
The hunters were covered in animal fur as clothes, and their faces resembled a combination of Ainu and Tlingit people. They readied their weapons, glowering at these strangers standing deep within their territory, staking claim to the quarry that was rightfully theirs; they were not about to give up their hard-won prize without a fight.
Fluttershy, Nigel and the mammoth quickly positioned themselves in front of her fallen sister, getting between the hunters and their intended prey.
Soon, Twilight arrives with her flashlight, but as she ran towards her friends, she stumbled and dropped the light, causing it to shine at the group of hunters.
The Proto-Siberians screamed in terror at the “foul magic” of Twilight, scrambling and running away.
“Looks like these people obviously never saw a flashlight, it must’ve been magic to them.” Fluttershy said in relief.
Perhaps it was just the sight of Twilight and her “devilish instrument”, but fortunately they don't come any closer.
For a brief moment, the forest was silent. A long pause, before a faint rumbling sound was heard, and the trio turned their attention back to their charge, who was slowly beginning to stir. Like all beasts, the mammoth had a deathly fear of fire, but she was powerless to take flight. Her sister was the same, but she didn’t want to leave her sibling behind, so she stayed with her to comfort her in her time of need.
"You're all right, girl." Nigel reassured the great beast, softly stroking her trunk. "You're all right."
Twilight did the same, leaning into the mammoth's right side, listening to her slow breaths and slow, steady heartbeat.
The mammoth groggily opened her eyes, seeing one of the benevolent humans that had protected her from the many teeth prowling in the dark. She rumbled lowly, accepting their affections, as well as her sister. For the first time since before their mother died, they felt safe. They were no longer alone.
*****
Morning light revealed the riverside clearing devoid of tents as the crew prepared for departure.
It was time to go.
While Fluttershy was busy kicking snow into the fire to extinguish the flames, Nigel and Twilight went to check on the mammoths who were beginning to stir from their slumber.
Dawn.
She's still alive, but will she be strong enough to get back on her feet?
"You can tell a dog's healthy by a wet nose." said the zoologist, softly touching the tip of her trunk.
To the reviving mammoth, the bookworm cooed, "You look like you've got a wet trunk, sweetie." The signs started to look good. Slowly, the hairy pachyderm raised her sinuous trunk, bringing the fingertips to gently touch Twilight’s nose, who giggled on contact.
The Englishman chuckled. "I think she likes you."
"I’m back!" came a voice from behind. The pair looked to see none other than Fluttershy.
"How's she doing?" Fluttershy inquired.
"I think we're about to find out." Twilight replied.
In that moment, the mammoth found the strength to slowly rise to her feet, as her sister did the same, though a little stronger and quicker than her sister. Nigel and company were quick to back away. "Okay keep calm." he warned his peers, wisely giving the rising mammoths a wide berth. He knew that if mammoths were anything like their modern elephant cousins, they could be extremely unpredictable. "The ears are coming forward."
"Back off, back off." cautioned Fluttershy, motioning the film crew back. "Even though she's woozy, she can still charge. Stay calm."
At her full height, she and her sister stood more than 10 feet tall, towering over them. Amazingly, the mammoths were completely at ease around the humans that had been kind to them. "They’re not showing any aggression at all towards us." said Nigel, completely transfixed by the beasts’ gentleness. Instead, they slowly lumbered back to the fallen mammoth in the pit.
"They’re going back with their dead mother," said Fluttershy with a sad smile.
The living stood before the deceased as if to pay their respects. With a swat of her trunk, the eldest dislodged a spear embedded in her mother’s neck, sending the foul instrument of death flying. That job done, she and her younger sister then gently touched the shaggy body with their trunks, before draping it over one of her cold tusks, crooning and rumbling mournfully, almost as if they had accepted their parent’s death.
"Like modern elephants, these are intelligent and emotional animals." Twilight told the film crew. "Elephants really think about their dead. The same can be said for mammoths.”
"It's so exciting she's up, but we've got to get her and her sister away from their mum to get them back to the park, and that's going to be difficult." said Nigel, addressing the hairy elephant in the room.
The big question is will the mammoths leave their lce Age world and follow Nigel and Fluttershy back to the 21st century? There's only one way to find out.
Time was of the essence as the English naturalist quickly set up the time portal. The moment they bid their comrade their final farewell, the surviving mammoths turned their attention to their unlikely rescuers, rumbling and trumpeting before making their way towards Nigel, Fluttershy and Twilight.
"Walk on. That's it." said Nigel gently, coaxing the Ice Age denizens to follow. "Walk further." They knew what they had to do and that it had to be done fast. There was no telling how long the younger sister’s strength would hold out. As if they understood, the mammoths slowly lumbered closer, with Fluttershy walking just a few steps ahead.
"Come on. That's it. Come on."
At the touch of a button, the transparent wall of time appeared out of thin air behind Nigel, Twilight, and Fluttershy. One by one, they gave gentle words of encouragement before fading away into the fabric of time and space.
"Right this way."
"Come on, you can do it, sweetie."
"Come on. Follow us." said Fluttershy, the last one standing, beckoning them to come before disappearing within the portal.
The mammoths followed them without trepidation.
Thousands of years flashed by in seconds, until the party found themselves within the familiar walls of the stockade.
They’ve made it back to Prehistoric Park, but one’s in urgent need of help.
"Suzanne, we've got two mammoths. One’s injured! Get here fast!"
No time was wasted as the injured mammoth and her sister were led to the observation pen to await medical attention.
Prehistoric Park's head vet Suzanne hasn't looked after a mammoth before, but she's hoping that what she knows about elephants will help.
"We've just given her a light sedative, so she'll lie here and let me do this." she explained to the film crew. The mammoth laid motionless on her right side, breathing steadily as her sister looked on.
"She's got a really deep, horrible, infected wound, and she's got something stuck in it." informed Twilight.
Suzanne never took her eyes off her work as she replied, "I'm seeing if I can get it out. It's– a lot tougher than it looks."
An important difference between mammoths and elephants is the layer of fat beneath the skin. In mammoths, it’s an incredible three inches.
"She’s got this really thick layer of fat. I guess it's because she's an Ice Age creature, just to keep her warm, but it's making it really hard to get out." The sedated mammoth moaned in slight pain. It took a great deal of effort and care before she was able to remove the source of the pachyderm's injury, an obsidian blade with a coating of red. "It's like a spearhead or something." She handed the Paleolithic weapon to her assistant, a young woman with blond hair. The more experienced vet quickly got to work cleaning the wound with a swab of cotton.
"We'll treat it like an elephant wound, just leave it open, not stitch it." she explained. "Elephants, best not to stitch them, they just heal up. It takes a long time, but she'll form a scar there. Okay... I'll need to give her another shot of antibiotics in a couple of days."
*In the Control Room...**
"The camera's working." Nigel, Applejack, and Fluttershy watched everything unfold from the control room. They watched with joy as the mammoth regained consciousness, slowly rising back on her feet as her sister headed over to reunite with her.
With the spear tip removed and the mammoth back on her feet, it looks like she and her sister are on the road to recovery. Nigel and company hope that now they’ll be ready to start their new life at the park. Later that day, they’ve moved to their new enclosure.
Sometime later, the entire team was gathered at a grassy area in the more upland regions of the park where the mammoths’ designated paddock was to be. The enclosure's terrain was dry, made up mostly of Serengeti-like open grassland with a few trees and shrubs dotting the landscape. Mammoth Mount, the sign said.
Within the confines of the small wooden barriers, the park's latest residents took the time to explore their new home while just on the opposite end of the enclosure, the humans gawked at the magnificence of the Ice Age denizens.
"What should we name them?" Suzanne asked. Opinions were divided. While everyone else talked and debated among themselves, Twilight peered closely at the hairy creatures that had captured her heart. For such an imposing figure, the mammoths’ small brown eyes spoke of gentle souls. "They look like a ‘Martha’ and ‘Mary’ to me." she decided.
Nigel smiled. "Martha and Mary, it is."
The team decides to call them Martha and Mary.
It's feeding time at Prehistoric Park. The T-rex siblings are putting on weight. And the Struthiomimus love their brand-new feeding schedule. Everyone is enjoying their food. Everyone that is, except for the Aurochs and the mammoth sisters.
If there was one thing both animals had in common, was the fact that they looked unhappy. The Aurochs bull barely ate any grass and was becoming somewhat malnourished.
But the situation wasn’t nearly as bad as Martha and Mary.
There's a big problem - Martha and Mary haven't eaten since they got here.
"Keep piling it in." Instead of stuffing her maw with endless bales of hay as expected, the mammoths simply stood idly in the corner of their enclosure, showing no interest whatsoever in the food.
Vet Suzanne and bookworm Twilight are very concerned.
A green park jeep had dropped off Suzanne and Twilight at Mammoth Mount to evaluate the situation.
"How are they?" the inventor inquired.
"They’re just not eating anything at all. We're trying new hay every day." said a veterinary intern, a blond-haired young woman named Sarah.
"And they’re not interested." The head vet noted. To the intern, she asked, "Can you get Bob to get fresh grass? We'll try that."
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I'll go and see him."
"Okay, thanks."
Turning to Twilight, Suzanne explained, "I'm not sure what the problem is at all. We thought this would be a suitable enclosure for them."
Leaning on the fence, the inventor studied Martha and Mary intently. They seemed very withdrawn and uninterested in the activity going on around them. "The elephants like it up here, but they don't seem very happy. Are they sick?"
The vet shook her head. "Their clinical exam's normal, their blood tests have been fine, their temperature's normal, Martha’s wound is fine; it's not infected. I just don't know what the problem is. And if Martha doesn't start eating soon, she's not gonna be okay."
Twilight could only look on with concern, the gravity of Suzanne's words sinking in.
Martha needs to eat well to regain her strength. If she doesn't, the infection might take hold again and that could kill her.
*In the Veterinary Clinic...**
Back at the clinic, Suzanne does some more research.
The veterinarian was seated at her study, surrounded by all the latest articles and research papers regarding mammoths, their biology, their feeding patterns, whatever she could get her hands on. Martha's life was on the line, and any piece of information could prove vital.
"This is a fossilised mammoth's tooth," she explained to the film crew while holding up an ancient molar the size of a brick, "and this is a real elephant's tooth." Next to the fossil was the molar of a modern African elephant. "And you can see they've got really similar grinding and wear patterns. So, I don't think it's her teeth that are the problem."
"And it says here, according to paleontological research, that the woolly mammoths were predominantly grazers." said Sunset from her place by the computer.
"You think it still might be the grass?" the vet asked.
Sunset shrugged. "Or it might be that mammoths have a different digestive system to elephants. I'm just not sure. On an unrelated note, the cave bear and cave lion are doing just fine, but the big guy needs to make up all those calories he lost from hibernation.”
Back on Mammoth Mount, Martha and Mary stood in the middle of their paddock, unmoving and unwilling to take in much needed nourishment. Just outside the paddock, Twilight and Fluttershy could only look on sadly.
Martha's getting weaker, and something needs to be done.
The next morning...
There was an air of great urgency as Nigel and Fluttershy stormed out of the office. "Martha's seriously sick. We've got to move quickly." said Nigel hurriedly to the camera crew as he and Fluttershy made their way through the bungalow.
"Our plan is to go back 150,000 years." informed Fluttershy, as determined as ever. "At that time, mammoth populations were flourishing. There will be lots of healthy animals. We can collect data, find out what they're feeding on, what makes them healthy, even learn more about mammoth behavior in the wild."
"And maybe we can save Martha." Nigel added hopefully.
150,000 years ago, the world was in the full grip of the lce Age. Woolly mammoths were everywhere from the west of Europe to the east of Asia.
They were traveling back in time, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
*To be continued...