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Seattle museum to house replica of mammoth built by UW students

SEATTLE, Wash. — Washington is one step closer to having a Columbian mammoth on permanent display at a Seattle museum.

University of Washington mechanical engineering majors are using cutting-edge technology to scan the skull of an ancient mammoth skull, unearthed in Nevada.

The scans will be used to build a 3-D model to help re-build Washington’s own mammoth, discovered in Ridgeland.

“It’s kinda like when you scan a PDF into your printer,” mechanical engineer major Tessa Gomes said.

Only about 20 percent of Washington’s Ridgeland mammoth was ever found, including a tusk.

Once scanned, the 3-D skull will be printed at UW.

Students are currently building the printer. It will be about the size of a walk-in closet.

Once complete, the Columbian mammoth will be displayed in the university’s new Burke museum, set to open in 2019.

The museum could also house a mammoth tusk discovered in South Lake Union two years ago.