A team of scientists has unveiled a baby mammoth that lay almost perfectly preserved for 50,000 years in the now-melting permafrost of eastern Siberia.
The mammoth was a “unique research find,” with scientists “all surprised by its exceptional preservation,” said Anatoly Nikolaev, rector of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory at North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk in eastern Siberia. The body showed no signs of damage to the head, trunk, ears and mouth, he said.
The scientists said in a news release Monday that the carcass of the baby mammoth, dubbed “Yana” after the Yana River basin where it was found in eastern Siberia in Russia, “is definitely the best-preserved in the world.”
Researchers unveiled the carcass Monday. It was only the seventh baby mammoth carcass discovered globally — six in Russia and one in Canada.
The mammoth is 4 feet tall, weighs about 400 pounds and is less than 6.6 feet long, the news release said.
The discovery is expected to provide valuable insights into the development of mammoths, their adaptive traits, the environmental conditions of their Ice Age habitats and other important aspects of their lives, Maxim Cheprasov, the head of the laboratory, said in the statement.
Local residents found Yana in June in the Batagaika crater, the world’s largest permafrost crater, which is widening as a result of climate change as the ground melts, a statement said.
The Russian state media outlet TASS said residents of the village of Bataga discovered it.
“The locals happened to be at Batagaika at the right time and noticed that the mammoth calf had partially thawed from the wall, about [130 feet] below the surface,” Cheprasov told TASS.
Researchers Gavril Novgorodov and Erel Struchkov pose next to the remains of a baby mammoth discovered in June.Gavril Novgorodov / Reuters file
The mammoth is estimated to have been 1 year old when it died, the release said. However, scientists at mammoth museum laboratory, which specializes in the study of mammoths and their Ice Age environment, is conducting further tests to confirm exactly how old it was.
According to their website, they are collaborating with genetic researchers from other regions of the Russian Federation to uncover more about Yana’s life and environment.
Russia’s permafrost, now thawing because of climate change, has uncovered several incredible prehistoric discoveries in recent years.
In 2020, scientists in the Yakutia, the north-eastern part of Siberia, unearthed part of a mummified saber-tooth cat estimated to be 32,000 years old.
The next year, researchers discovered the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf in the same region.
Hannah Peart
