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Aug. 4--CRAWFORD, Neb. -- A one-of-a-kind fossil find is back home.
A display of the fossilized remains of two post-ice-age mammoths, who died with their giant tusks interlocked in battle, will be formally dedicated today in the Trailside Museum at Fort Robinson State Park.
The 10,000- to 12,000year-old fossil, dubbed "Clash of the Mammoths," was discovered in the Nebraska Badlands area 20 miles north of Crawford in 1962.
Until earlier this year, it had been tucked away in a University of Nebraska-Lincoln storage area because of lack of funds and display space.
"This is something we've wanted to get back out here. It belongs here," said Greg Brown of the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln.
Since April, a team led by Brown and Ron Pike, an exhibit developer, has been installing the fragile bones into a display simulating the original dig site. A backdrop to the display is a dramatic mural depicting the death match of the mammoths, painted by Nebraska artist Mark Marcuson.
While finding mammoth bones in Nebraska is not uncommon, finding intact skulls of the 12-foot-tall, three-ton beasts is, Brown said.
The "Clash of the Mammoths" -- two intact skulls intertwined in a death grip -- "is absolutely unique," he said.
The two mammoths, both males, most likely were sparring for dominance of the herd when they became interlocked, Brown said.
Such battles usually did not end in death. But because a tusk broke off of each mammoth, the two giants were able to push closer to each other and assume their interlocked position.
Brown said they died because mammoths, like modern-day elephants, had a hard time getting up once they fell.
"Once they fell down, they were goners," he said.
Discussion of building a new state museum in Crawford to display the mammoths dates back to at least 1990.
In 1993, the U.S. Forest Service unveiled plans for a Prehistoric Prairies Discovery Center to display the "Clash of the Mammoths." It was intended to be the second half of a $6 million project, with the first half being the 1998 opening of the Hudson-Meng Museum and Research Center north of Crawford.
But a local group had difficulties raising funds for the discovery center.
Eventually, the discovery center idea was scrapped and state money was allocated to upgrade the Trailside Museum of Natural History, a 92-year-old former gym and theater at the old military post, to serve as home for the clashing mammoths.
Local donations helped to design the new display at the museum, which has housed the skeleton of one of the two mammoths, with a model skull and tusks, since 1963.
Brown said the mammoths were named "Cope" and "Marsh" by Mike Voorhies, one of the paleontologists who excavated the fossil, after two 19th century paleontologists who were constantly feuding and trying to out-do each other.
"Cope and Marsh started out as friends and became bitter rivals," Brown said. "Among paleontologists, you're either a fan of Cope or of Marsh; you can't be both."
Want to visit? The Trailside Museum is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. MDT, through Labor Day.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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