Pollen Pollen abounded in the dung. The majority of the grains were of wind-dispersed pollen, such as that of Artemisia, a type of sage (top pair). The dung also retained small amounts of insect-carried pollen from a variety of flowering plants, including Polemonium, commonly known as Jacob's ladder (bottom pair). The pollen record was likely influenced by the mammoth's food choices during his final meal, the team notes, and the pollen probably integrates several years of plant growth. But one finding was unequivocal: the total absence of tree pollen. The mammoth's world was treeless.
