Woolly Mammoth Tusk

This tusk is approximately 10,000-12,000 years old and came from a woolly mammoth. Woolly mammoths are a specific type of mammoth, an extinct animal most closely related to elephants. Woolly mammoths had fur coats, ears that were smaller than an elephant’s, a mound of fat on their back, and tusks that pointed downwards and were often curved, such as this one. They had rings in their tusks that are similar to trees, helping scientists to date their age. They may have used their tusks for fighting or foraging for food under the snow.

This woolly mammoth tusk once belonged to renowned polar explorer and Hudson resident, Lincoln Ellsworth (1880-1951). Ellsworth, raised in Hudson, is best known for his Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, which claimed over 350,000 square miles of Antarctic territory for the United States. Ellsworth received two Congressional gold medals for his work on behalf of the United States and in 1988 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative Ellsworth postage stamp. Ellsworth’s Antarctic plan, the Polar Star, is on display in the National Air and Space Museum. The Hudson City Schools sports teams are named the “Explorers” in his honor. The tusk was likely presented to Ellsworth from Andrew J. Stone in Alaska. Stone was also a well-known explorer who led several expeditions in British Columbia and Alaska. Stone was working as a surveyor for a gold mining company in Alaska when we believe he gave the tusk to Ellsworth. It was Ellsworth’s time in Alaska and perhaps his meeting with Stone that may have influenced him to become a polar explorer.