Recently I came across a dutch passport. Printed on every page was a mammoth with a starry night on the background. I found this intriguing and thus am recurring to the SDMB populace for their wisdom on the most perplexing of questions: What the hell does The Netherlands have to do with mammoths? 
Cheers,
quasar
OK - I can only presume it is because a “Mammathus meridionalis” (not the wolley mammoth but … a non wolley on (ike an elephant) was found at IJssel Valley - The Netherlands.
It is geologically the youngest specimens found.
That is the only reason i can conclude to and even then it sounds pretty week.
You sure it is a mammoth and not … somthing else ?
Google, “dutch passport mammoth”.
http://www.ebay.nl/max/report_en.html
Does that mean that Coldy is our fossil?
The Netherlands export more mammath fossils than Russia? Seems unlikely to me…
Thanks for the info. Duck. Thats sheds some light into the subject, yet I am still puzzled as to why this must be reason enough to warrant such a prominent place in their passport. One would imagine that space would be saved for a more traditional / important national symbol (tulips, windmills, Johann Cruyff -sp?- ).
If anyone can provide further info, it would be appreciated.
Cheers,
quasar
The dutch passport shows 1 mammoth. If the one you saw had one on every page, it may have been imperfectly genuine.
The mammoth is there because the illustrations show the history of the Netherlands, the first page shows a prehistoric structure and the now thoroughly overexposed mammoth to represent the prehistoric low countries. Subsequent pages have illustrations reflecting progressively less ancient history. Conspicuously absent are the less nice chapters, like the fight to keep Indonesia as a colony.
And the truth shall set you free! Thanks a bundle, Isosleepy.
BTW, I only saw one page of a passport, not a complete one. I incorrectly assumed that all pages showed the same design. Thanks for the clarification.