Homeland of Elephants

Mammoths were almost like people—just huge and furry.

Two hundred years ago, Russians found these amazing animals, declared them a treasure of the empire, saved them from extinction, and then the whole country, whatever happened, did its best to preserve them. Chukotka animal keepers and Russian zoologists valued their lives above their own. The mammoth is a symbol of Russia and of its national character.

Right at the edge of our land—where it’s cold, hungry, dark, and sometimes even terrifying—mammoths build roads, raise houses, transport cargo, and rescue those who get into trouble.

The fate of the baby mammoth Katya and the boy Umka was decided long before they were born. But everything went wrong, and now the director of the nursery “Star of Chukotka” has two problems: where to place the ingenious four-legged one, and how to rein in his talented son.

Times are changing, and the future of the “working horses of the far North” is in question. Everyone must make a difficult choice. Even a mammoth.