What about the Mammoths?

For years now National Geographic and the Discovery channel have been telling stories of how thousands of frozen mammoths are found preserved in Siberia, frozen so quickly their flesh could still be eaten today, complete with sub-tropical vegetation in their mouths. The Discovery channel even went so far as to cut an entire mammoth out in a block of ice and physically stick a pair of tusks in the ice to give the "world premier" documentary more life.

To best answer this question, we must first establish the facts unlike that of the Discovery channel. First of all, we have determined there have been less than 60 frozen mammoths found frozen or partially frozen. It is true that tens of thousands of mammoth bones are found, and mammoth ivory has been mined commercially in some places, but those were not quick-frozen. These bones are found in the frozen tundra, and are not found in the thick sequences of sedimentary rock lying stratigraphically below the frozen soil. The frozen parts, are, with few exceptions, found in the frozen banks of modern rivers, usually in small lenses within the larger tundra layer. It appears that some of the mammoths drowned after breaking through the ice covering a river. Moreover, the stomach contents and un-swallowed food are that of a mountain meadow, not unlike that of alpine regions today. The frozen meat itself, while wolves and sled dogs have been known to sample it on occasion, is usually somewhat rancid, obviously not quick frozen and ready to be sold as some sensationalists promote.

After a further examination of the facts, it seems that the best interpretation is that these mammoth herds descended from those representatives of the "elephant kind" that were aboard Noah's Ark. If the Flood was the reason for the sedimentary rock deposits, then the soil layer in which the mammoths are found must be a later deposit. The soil and the carcasses couldn't have floated around for months while other sediments were deposited, especially in a quick-frozen condition. These are post-Flood features, as further confirmed by the numerous worldwide discoveries of Ice Age human fossils or artifacts in association with mammoth bones.

These creatures seem to have been well suited to an Ice Age climate, but not well adapted to an ideal pre-Flood world. In the early years after the Flood, there would have been few predators of large animals, and enough vegetation to support large herds.

An interesting comparison could be drawn with the elk population on Mount St. Helens following that catastrophic destruction in 1980. Since then, a higher incidence of multiple births per cow has been noted, allowing the herd to grow rapidly.

I think we can reasonably say that the "elephant kind," in obedience to God's command given in Genesis 8:17, were filling the recently devastated earth, adapting to various areas as they went. They flourished initially, but some varieties were eventually overwhelmed in major storms during the Ice Age, others hunted to extinction by humans, while still others survived to the present day.