Bernard Buigues, vice president of the Geneva-based International Mammoth Committee, has been organising expeditions to the North Pole and Siberia for more than 15 years. He has developed a logistical base at Khatanga in northern Siberia for launching high-latitude expeditions. Buigues is also the director of the Mammuthus Project, which has been credited with two important discoveries in Siberia — the Jarkov and Yukagir mammoths.