The Last Mammoth, Hungry Man, and the Short Faced Bear

by

Dan Mabbutt

Dedicated to Carlo Matekovic. How I miss him.

There must be a last one of every thing that walks the Earth. When the first men were building villages in Europe, the last mammoths and the first men walked the Earth together.

About ten thousand years ago, the very last mammoth died. An entire ecosystem filled with amazing animals died with it. The short-faced bear was the most fearsome predator of the age. It was easily superior to the better known saber tooth tiger and much larger than any bear today.

But all of these predators had the bad luck to be pitted against the most successful predator: man.

When large prey animals like the mammoths disappeared, everything changed. There is no scientific reason why the remains of one particular mammoth found in Huntington Canyon, Utah could not be the very last mammoth. Scientists say that the Huntington Canyon Mammoth died 11,300 years ago. It is within the bounds of scientific knowledge to think that this was the last mammoth alive on Earth. Certainly, no others are known to have lived later. Everything about this mammoth whispers to you that it is special and unusual, and that some strange story must explain why it is there.

First, the Huntington Mammoth was discovered at an unusually high elevation, over 9,000 feet. Even today, the area is high and forested. When mammoths were alive, there were forests and meadows in Utah where there is empty desert today. The elevation where the Huntington Mammoth died must have been almost alpine back then.

The Huntington Mammoth is a very complete specimen. Almost all of the original skeleton was recovered because it died in the mud of a swamp that became dense clay and preserved the remains. These remains tell a tragic story.

This was a very old mammoth, about 60 to 65 years old. Age and disease had fused the neckbones and bones in the spine. It must have been very hard for it to eat because mammoths swing their heads up and down to find and gather food. Even walking would have been difficult and painful. Mammoths are born with five or six teeth stacked one behind the other like stairs on an escalator. As old teeth wear out, they fall out and new teeth take their place. The Huntington Mammoth was using its last tooth. Just eating to stay alive was painful.

The Huntington Mammoth probably wasn’t eating much anyway. A ball of pine needles and bark was found with it. If this was the mammoth’s dung ball, it was more evidence that the mammoth was in a desperate condition because mammoths normally ate grasses and sedges. If this one was eating pine needles and bark, it was slowly starving to death.

A partial jawbone of a short-faced bear was found in the same sediment layer not too far from the Huntington Mammoth. It’s possible that the short-faced bear was feeding on the mammoth, and for some reason, he died in the same place. The spacing of the teeth approximately match marks in the shoulder bone of the mammoth.

A final coincidence was that a spear point was found near the Huntington mammoth. There’s nothing to connect it directly with the mammoth, but it was close enough for a connection to be possible. Perhaps one of the first men who crossed over from Asia to hunt the great mammoths died there too.

This is the story of an old man, call him ‘Hungry Man’, suffering from fatigue, cold, and hunger who believed that he talked to animals and that they talked to him. Early men did not clearly distinguish between the spirit world and the physical world. Hungry Man is an icon for a crossroad in time. A crossroad when great animals like the Columbia Mammoth and the short-faced bear gave up their reign on Earth to men.

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My name is Hungry Man. That was my name among my people when I was alive. Two suns ago, my people told me that I was dead. They took me to a quiet place in the forest and left me to rejoin my ancestors and my sons, underneath the snow. Then all the people in the village who are still alive left to find a new place in the forest.

Now, I am wounded and I am very weak. Soon, I will be with my sons and my ancestors. Soon, I too will sleep underneath the snow. But for the last two suns, I have walked a path that no one among my people has walked before. I have seen things that no one among my people has seen and I have spoken to my own spirit and the spirits of the greatest things in the forest.

It may be because I am dead, yet still alive, that I have walked this path and seen these things. It may be because my ancestors are testing me, to see if I am worthy to join them. Or it may be none of these things. Soon, my eyes will close for the last time and I will sleep without waking. And then I will know.

Two suns ago, Always Looking, the man who has taken my daughter to his fireside, looked at me sadly in my eyes and told me that I was dead. Always Looking spoke to me for all of my people because I do not have sons that are still alive. He said the village men talked about it around the fire and all agreed.

Everyone agreed that it was not possible that I would be alive when the snow stopped falling and the fruit of the forest could be found again. There were five moons of snow still to fall. So I was dead.

Always Looking spoke of my sons, whom he had known as brothers, and my father and mother. He said they slept now in the forest and they called for me to join them in their peaceful sleep. He said that many others in the village were dead too, because the snow would soon be deep, and hunger would steal their breath. He said some of the people might still live if those who were surely dead did not eat now.

When the snow fell before, the people would kill a Great One just as the snow began to fall and bury the land. They used fire to confuse and chase the Great One until death came to him from a great fall, or until stones weakened him. Still, many of the people joined the Great Ones in death before he would fall. But then the people could eat the meat of the Great One when the snow was deep. When the snow fell before, the meat of the Great One meant that few of the people joined the sleep of the dead in the forest.

But now when the snow started to fall, no Great One had been found in the forest or the plain beneath the forest. None were in the grassy places near the water where they had been found before. None were in the forest where they hide. Without the meat of a Great One, all the people were as I was all my life – hungry. The snow this time would show to many that they too, were dead.

And so, the people broke camp when the sun was still getting up from the land to search for a place where hunting was better. They left me in the forest to sleep with my sons and my father and my mother. Always Looking brought me my hunting spear to take with me and sleep with because it was the best thing I owned.

I decided to walk to a high place that I loved in life, to sleep in a place that was beautiful. It was a long walk, and the people did not go there because there was nothing there, except that it was beautiful. I sometimes talked to Always Looking about going there. He said, “Hungry Man, you are hungry for everything! And it is not good that you should have everything that you are hungry for. While you spend a full sun going to that place, who will hunt for you? Who will gather from the forest for you? And what will you do when you get there? It is a beautiful place. Look at it while you stay here!”

Now that I am dead, I don’t have to worry about hunting or gathering in the forest. I decided to sleep under the snow in a place that is beautiful.

Always Looking was wiser than he knew. The beautiful place was very hard to walk to. There were ravines that the people did not know; and steep places. When I was young, I could have walked up them easily. But now, I had to stop and lean on my hunting spear and wait for breath to return as I walked. But even though the people did not travel there, I felt that I must go on and sleep forever in the beautiful place.

When the sun was approaching the land to sleep for the night, I was still far from the beautiful place. I was waiting again for breath to return, and I had found a place where I could look out, but still be hidden from the wind. Then I heard the sound of a great battle. That was when my feet left the path I had chosen for myself and started down a new and strange path.

I am old, but my eyes are still clear and I can see the trees on far hillsides. I could easily see what the sounds already told me. A Great One and a Running Bear were fighting each other just where I could see them clearly below me. Such a battle! This was the first of many things I saw that no one among my people had ever seen before.

Fear gripped my heart! A Running Bear was the greatest enemy of my people. Only when all the people stood together and used fire could a Running Bear be stopped from eating our children. And still, many fathers could count children that did not sleep in the forest, but instead lived inside the body of a Running Bear. One of my own sons lived in the body of a Running Bear, perhaps this one. A Running Bear was the enemy of every thing that walked the land, even the Great Ones. When they walked on four legs, the back of a Running Bear was taller than a man. A standing Running Bear was as tall as two men. My people killed the children of the Running Bear to keep them from growing tall and strong, like this one was.

As mighty as a Running Bear was, a Great One was mightier. Even a Running Bear did not fight a Great One as one against the other. But this one was as hungry as I was and the Great One was old and weak like me. After a little while, fear was not so much in me. Fear waited a little way from me while I watched from my hiding place to see how such a thing could happen.

The Running Bear and the Great One both knew that death waited close by. Each one did not want to rush forward and have his death fill him. Each one waited for death to fill the other one first. After a time of watching, I could see why the Running Bear had chosen to fight with this Great One. The Great One was as I was – dead already.

The bones of the Great One did not move as they once did. His great head did not swing up and down to menace the Running Bear with his long, white, spear teeth. His legs did not swing forward to charge the Running Bear. And the strength of his body was gone. But he stood with the pride and honesty that made all the people love the Great Ones as no other thing in the forest.

The Running Bear knew that the Great One was already dead. He knew that he could keep life in himself for a long time by eating the body of the Great One. He circled to the side but the Great One turned to face him. And he circled back, trotting impatiently with his powerful long arms and legs. Suffering and pain were in the eyes of the Great One. Although life was ready to leave him, he was not ready to join with death yet. Perhaps, the Great One was traveling to his own beautiful place, as I was. Perhaps he dreamed of sleeping underneath the snow in his beautiful place instead of filling the body of the Running Bear.

This went on for a long time. I waited, still and quiet, and hoped that the wind would not bring the scent of my fear to the Running Bear. I knew that if the Running Bear ever saw that I was here, I would never sleep in my own beautiful place.

When the Running Bear finally turned and fought with the Great One, it was like the fire flash in a rain storm – swift and terrible. In a sudden rage, the Running Bear fought the Great One straight on, climbing over the long white spear teeth with his powerful arms and lashing out with his claws. In fear, I fell back into my hiding place as the Great One yelled his defiance and the Running Bear yelled his rage. The Running Bear went up over the Great One’s head and fell down his side, tearing flesh as he fell. The Great One bellowed his pain, but his stiff old body could not throw the Running Bear to the ground. The Great One staggered to the side that the Running Bear was tearing apart. Death was very close to him now.

But death did not embrace the Great One yet. The spirit of the forest put a great tree at the side of the battle where the Running Bear did not see. When the body of the Running Bear hit the tree, it made a terrible sound that was easy for me to hear even from my hiding place.

Even the strong body of the Running Bear must break between the weight of the Great One and the tree. Now his battle cry of rage changed to a scream of pain. The Great One turned and faced the Running Bear again. With strength borrowed from death waiting near at his side, the Great One stood on his back legs and let his front legs fall on the Running Bear. I could not see, but I was sure that the Running Bear had joined death under the huge feet of the Great One.

I moved a little out of my hiding place to better see the death of the Running Bear. The Great One, now too weak to fight on, backed up a few paces. The Running Bear lay crumpled in the snow. The blood of both had turned the snow dark.

My own mind began to turn to what would happen next. I knew that I would not reach my beautiful place while this sun was in the sky. The sun was very near the earth and the first chill of night was in the air. I had eaten nothing since I left my people, and I decided that no man could sleep better under the snow than with the meat of a Running Bear in him. The Great One would not fight me now, so I decided to go down and eat the body of the Running Bear; and sleep next to him this night. I would finish my journey to my beautiful place when the sun rose from the earth again.

Gathering my spear, I moved down the mountain. I stepped softly, carefully, because fear of the Running Bear was still in me. But my spirit spoke to me and said, “Death is in the Running Bear, Hungry Man. Do not fear him. You must speak to the Great One and tell him that you claim his victory. Do not step softly, or the Great One will not hear you. Walk as a man of your people and the Great One will know that you are worthy to claim his prize.” So I started to hit bushes and trees with my hunting spear as I walked, and I sang the song of battle of my people to the Great One. But fear was still in me. The Great One did not hear my battle song even when I was near enough to throw my spear with my bad arm and still hit him. I sang my battle cry again and picked up a rock and threw it instead.

Slowly, with pain in his huge body, the Great One turned to face me. His eyes spoke to me as the eyes of a man would speak to another man. He said, “Hungry Man, I am filled with pain and I do not wish to fight again. But I will fight if I have to. Let us both go our own way and neither of us will have to fight again.” The red of his blood stained the snow where the Running Bear had torn at him with his teeth and claws and now one of his front legs did not bear his great body well. I lowered my hunting spear and crouched in the snow and told him that I agreed with his plan. He said, “Good, I will leave you now. We will not be enemies today.”

As the Great One turned to go his way, I looked at him and saw him as he must have been – strong, noble, a great warrior and husband to many wives. He and I had both lived long and both deserved our rest now. But his pain was greater than mine had ever been. The Great Ones grow fat by the water but this one was thin. He had to command each leg to move before it would obey. Could a man of my people still walk with such pain?

I turned from the Great One to go and eat the Running Bear, but as I approached his crumpled body, the Running Bear rose from being dead in the snow and bellowed his horrible war cry again! Fear, terrible fear, crushed me down to the ground like snow when it falls from a steep mountain; like a dry leaf is crushed under a man’s foot. Fear, so great that no room was left for any other thought. The Running Bear rose to his feet, and then fell again. And again, his battle cry turned to a cry of pain. He rose slowly a second time but this time, he used only one of his arms. The other hung limp at his side. Suddenly, the Running Bear saw me, there, where he could kill me and eat me in a few bites. I scrambled to my feet and ran in my terror. I reached rocks where I could wedge my body in a narrow crack. But the crack was not deep enough to protect me. I saw that the Running Bear had fallen again and was breathing heavily. I could see blood in the snow where his great jaws rested.

The Great One still walked up the valley. I did not know if he saw the Running Bear rise from the dead or not. My spirit spoke to me again and said, “Hungry Man, you must follow the Great One. You cannot fight the Running Bear and live no matter how wounded he is. Only the Great One, even old and in pain, can fight the Running Bear. If you are near the Great One, he will fight the Running Bear instead of you and you may yet sleep in the beautiful place.” So I left the narrow crack in the rock and, as fast as my own old body could take me, I followed the track of the Great One in the snow and gathering dark. The Running Bear, moving slowly in his own pain now, rose up again and followed us up through the forest.

The Great One was a warrior, but the strength of a warrior was not in him now. I was able to walk ahead of him, and I rested in the path ahead of him. He stopped and looked at me with his wise old eyes and said, “So, Hungry Man, you have joined me in my journey. I know why you are here, but I do not care. If the Running Bear catches you, he is still warrior enough to eat you. It is better for me if he does. We shall see.”

By this time, the night was full upon us. A light snow fell through the trees and I heard “whuff … whuff … whuff” as the Running Bear labored on his three good legs behind us. My spirit had spoken to me wisely. The Running Bear would not pass the Great One to eat me. He remembered too well the pain of the Great One’s huge feet breaking his arm. The Great One continued his slow, steady journey up the valley.

I cried out to him, “Where do you go, Great One? I have walked all day and I am old and tired. I am too old and too weak to walk all through the night. But I can not stop or the Running Bear will eat me. Stop with me and we will face the Running Bear together. We will both live to see the sun rise from the earth again.”

The Great One heard my cry, but he said to me, “Hungry Man, why should I care if the Running Bear eats you? Your people have eaten my people for so long that none of my people walk the earth any more. I am the last of my people because your people have eaten all of the others. Long after we three sleep under the snow, your people will still walk the earth. My people will not because you have killed us all. So why should I care what happens to you?”

I could not answer the question of the Great One. I, myself, had killed the children of the Great One. I had hunted with my people to cut them behind their legs so they could not stand and we could kill them. The Great One continued his slow, painful walk through the dark night and up the mountain. If there were now no more Great Ones, I sorrowed for my people because I knew hunger would take many of them when snow covered the forest. And I sorrowed for the people of the Great One because they were now gone.

“Whuff …” The Running Bear called to me. “Hungry Man! I am more hungry than you. Even though I am wounded and I will sleep forever under the snow soon, I will eat you first and sleep with your body in mine.”

I called back to the Running Bear, “Why do you chase me to eat me, Running Bear? You know that death will be in you soon. The Great One has broken your body. Death will be in all of us soon. Why not find your own place to sleep with death and let me find mine? Listen to your pain. It speaks louder than your hunger. Stop and sleep with death.”

“Whuff!” The Running Bear answered. “Do you know the stories of your own people, Hungry Man? All of the Running Bears are forever angry because our bodies are filled with the spirits of your children that we have eaten. The spirits of your children do not sleep peacefully with death in the forest. Their anger makes me chase you, not my hunger.”

The Running Bear rested and then spoke to me again, “And what of you, Hungry Man? Is not your body filled with the spirits of the children of my people? Is not your body filled with the spirits of the children of the Great One? This is why men fight all the beasts of the forest, and fight other men too. You have too many of our children, restless and angry, in your body. Whuff! I will kill you. And I will eat you.”

The Running Bear was almost close enough to eat me. Weary and cold, I rose up with the help of my strong hunting spear and followed the track of the Great One again. In the dark of the night, I knew that if I ran away from the Running Bear, I might find rocks I could not climb, or bushes I could not push through, and then the Running Bear would eat me. If I followed the track of the Great One, I knew that as long as I still had some strength in my body, I could go where he could go. Then, at least we would face the Running Bear together.

I saw the shape of the Great One’s huge body in the pale light of a hungry moon. I knew that I had to move and work and regain warmth in my body. When I rested, I became weary and tired and warmth left me. Even fear of the Running Bear and his promise to eat me could not keep me awake. When I worked to follow the Great One, my eyes did not close in the sleep of death.

My spirit spoke to me again, “Hungry Man, why do you struggle to keep away from death? Is it so wrong for the Running Bear to eat you? Maybe if you move to the side instead of following the Great One, the Running Bear will not find you? Your people said that you are dead. Take counsel from them and let death fill you.”

But I spoke to my spirit, “Are not the Running Bear and the Great One also dead? The Great One is old. He is as old as I am, and he is alone, and in great pain. He could end his pain and join his ancestors by letting the Running Bear catch him. Yet he walks to stay away from death. Why? The forest and the things in it often have great wisdom. Perhaps they are more wise than you, my spirit? I know one thing. My body is weak, but it has enough strength to last a few moments more.”

In his pain, the Great One moved slowly. I struggled ahead of him again and stood in the trail, “Great One! Hear my cry! I sorrow for your children because I have a son that was eaten by the Running Bear and does not sleep peacefully with death in the forest. I know I am not your friend, but tonight I am not your enemy. The Running Bear is our enemy. He will eat you just as he will eat me, but neither you or I will eat each other. If we stand together, the Running Bear is not strong enough. Then we can live until the sun rises from the earth again.”

The Great One stopped. “Uggggh. What you mean is that if I stand against the Running Bear, he will not eat you. Why should I believe you? You say you will not eat me, but your people have eaten all of my people. It is true, the Running Bear is my enemy, but your people are a greater enemy than he is.”

I spoke to the Great One one more time, “I am too old, and alone, Great One! You are so strong that my people must hunt you only when we are many and we stand together. One old man can not harm you. But even wounded as he is, the Running Bear is still a great enemy by himself.”

And the Great One rested and considered my words. Finally he said, “Ugghhhhh. My pain is great. I do not trust you, but what you say is true. We will see if the Running Bear still thinks that he can eat me. My pain is too great to move on.” With that, the Great One slowly turned to face the Running Bear behind us. I moved up beside the Great One, a little distance away, and leaned on my strong spear to hold myself up.

Presently, the Running Bear came to us and said, “Whuff! So, you have joined against me. No matter. My pain is as great as yours and I am glad that we have stopped. Each of you stand closer to your death than I do to mine. I will rest a while and I will kill you when the sun lights the earth again.”  The Running Bear slumped into the snow, carefully favoring his wounded arm.

The Great One stood quietly. Then after a few moments, he too bent his knees to let his huge body slump onto the ground. Soon, I could feel the weariness of the cold night sinking into my old bones. The bulk of the Great One, even as thin and old as he was, was like a mountain. I moved close to him and pressed against his side and said to him, “Shield me, Great One, against the cold of the night. I cannot stand alone. If I can share your warmth this night, I will stand with you against the Running Bear in the morning.”
“I don’t care.” The Great One sighed. “We will all wait until the sun warms the earth again.” And so we did.

When he sun finally rose from the earth, the Great One struggled to stand. His wounded leg had stained the snow red all around and, as he tried to rise, he fell over heavily because his wounded leg would not support his body.

The Running Bear had not moved during the night and his own blood had stained the ground where his great jaws had rested. But now, he raised his head and said, “Whuff. I will join with death soon, but death will fill you before it fills me. See! Already the Great One is helpless and I can kill him now.” The Running Bear rose on his good arm and started to move toward us. He was close enough now so I could measure my body against his. I had to look up to see his bloody jaws. I could smell the stench of death in his breath.

“I am only one old man, Running Bear, but the Great One has wounded you so that even a weak old man can fight you. I too have rested during the night. And before I rested, I promised the Great One that I would stand with him. I still have my strong hunting spear and you will eat me whether I fight you or not. So I will keep my promise to the Great One. I will stand with him and you will not eat him while my body moves.”

“Whuff! What is this twig?” The Running Bear rose on his legs a moment and batted at my hunting spear with his good arm. I decided to show him that a strong hunting spear was the finest thing a man could own and jabbed at his great paw with all my strength.

“Eeuughh! You have a sharp tooth on your twig, Hungry Man!” The Running Bear fell back to earth again and snatched his great paw away.

The Great One rolled back onto his feet and was trying to rise again and he spoke to me, “Last night, I did not believe you, but now I do. We will stand together against the Running Bear.” At last, the Great One was able to stand. But death was almost in him.

“Urranngh.” The Running Bear growled his anger. “Go then. I have waited this long. I can wait just a little longer.” He made no move to advance.

During the night we had traveled to a high place where there was water when the earth was warm, but now, there was only a sheet of snow.

The Great One said, “I know this place. There is food for my people here when the earth is warm. This is my beautiful place.”

The Great One turned and moved out onto the flat snow, beyond the large bushes, and with his good leg and the long arm on his face, he brushed snow away from green plants. The Great One wrapped the arm on his face around them and tore them off and pushed them into his mouth. He now longer cared about me or the Running Bear. He was in his beautiful place. I followed close behind, still facing the Running Bear with my hunting spear. The Great One uncovered more plants and was eating them as in times past.

Suddenly, the earth moved beneath me; but it was not the earth. The Great One was standing on ice, and the ice broke beneath him. “Ueegghhhh!” The Great One screamed as he sank into the water underneath the ice.

The Running Bear lurched forward on his good arm. “Whufff! I have waited long enough. I can easily kill the Great One now. Do not think you can stop me.” He spoke the truth. I lowered my spear and moved to one side.

The Running Bear was upon the Great One and again tore the bleeding wound on his shoulder. As the Great One sank into the dark, cold water he screamed, “Ueegghhhh! You lied, Hungry Man!”

So I said to the Great One, “I can no longer stop what is happening. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for your children and the children of the Running Bear and my own children. But you are in your beautiful place now. Soon, your sorrow will be ended. Soon I will sleep with death and my own sorrow will be ended too.”

And it happened just that way. The Running Bear ate the living flesh of the Great One. But in his pain and with the last strength of his life, the Great One heaved his great body up one more time. The Running Bear fell down into the water at his side. With his own body broken, the Running Bear disappeared beneath the ice and water. The Great One slumped down into the water and ice, and was still. Death filled them both.

Then I was alone. I thought about how the meat of the Great One would keep me alive while this sun lived and perhaps more. I thought about how I could finally reach my beautiful place. But I asked my spirit, “Am I not dead now? Why do I need the anger of the last Great One to fill me as I sleep underneath the snow. This place is as beautiful as the place I saw.”

I am weary now. I have apologized to the spirit of the Running Bear and all his people; and to the spirit of the Great One and all his people. My eyes are heavy and my body is growing cold. My hands and feet are not of my body anymore. Soon, I will sleep with my father and mother and my sons. And I will sleep in friendship with my enemies.

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