The permanently frozen ground known as permafrost may be one of an engineer's worst enemies in Alaska, but it also preserves some amazing treasures from the distant past. One of those treasures is "Blue Babe", a 36,000-year-old steppe bison that is displayed in the main Gallery of Alaska at the Museum of the North. It was discovered at a placer gold mine near Fairbanks in 1979, while frozen muck was being melted and washed away with water. Luckily, the miners had at least some idea of what they had found, and contacted the university, who recovered it. Claw and tooth marks on the carcass indicate that the bison was killed by an Ice Age American lion (Panthera leoatrox).

This photograph is © 2014 by Murray Lundberg, and is not to be copied without express permission.