Russian scientists have displayed the remarkably well-preserved stays of a child mammoth discovered within the permafrost-covered area of Yakutia in Siberia.
The 50,000-year-old feminine mammoth has been nicknamed Yana after the river in whose basin it was found this summer season. Experts say it’s the best-preserved mammoth carcass on the planet and is one among solely seven entire stays ever discovered.
Studies will probably be carried out to work out her precise age at loss of life, estimated at “one 12 months outdated or a bit extra”.
The carcass was proven at North-Eastern Federal University within the regional capital of Yakutsk, the establishment mentioned in an announcement. “We had been all stunned by the distinctive preservation of the mammoth,” mentioned the college rector, Anatoly Nikolayev.
Maksim Cheprasov, a researcher, mentioned it was a “distinctive discovery”.
The stays weigh 180kg (397lbs) and are 120cm (4ft) tall and 200cm lengthy.
The carcass was dug up close to the Batagaika analysis station the place the stays of different prehistoric animals – together with a horse, a bison and a lemming – have been discovered.
Before this discovery, solely six mammoth carcasses had been discovered on the planet – 5 in Russia and one in Canada, the college mentioned.
Yakutia is a distant area bordering the Arctic Ocean. Its permafrost acts like an enormous freezer that preserves the stays of prehistoric animals.
