The Mammoth Pirates – In Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush

Russia’s Arctic just dropped a wild plot twist: an “ethical ivory” gold rush for woolly mammoth tusks feeding a booming market in China, with tuskers blasting into frozen ground, evading police, and reportedly partying through vodka-fueled nights. The comments? Pure Ice Age drama. One user opened with a defeated “Oof”, then sigwinch warned about “anthrax spores” bursting from thawing permafrost, dubbing the whole operation cursed. Dream of quick riches meets nightmare ecology. Others joked it’s a mud-soaked reality show where the final boss is mosquitoes, not the cops. The ethics fight got loud: some argued mammoth ivory is “better than elephant,” while critics shot back that it still fuels demand, wrecks rivers, and turns poor Siberian villages into chaotic boomtowns. zdc1 lobbed a spicy thought: could you fake mammoth tusks? The thread didn’t answer—just spiraled into skepticism about luxury tastes and black markets. Meanwhile, potato3732842 painted a grim summer of canned food and hangovers, quipping it’s a “blast” only if you ignore the math. And weslleyskah went off on the myths driving pricey tusk carvings and powdered rhino horn, asking why museums aren’t the buyers. Verdict: this “ethical” rush looks anything but chill.