Scientists are studying the preserved remains of young mammoths after they were discovered in thawing permafrost more than 50,000 years later.
The creature was recovered from the Patagayka crater in Russia, a huge depression more than 80 meters (260 feet) deep that is widening as a result of climate change.
The carcass, which weighed more than 110 kilograms (240 pounds), was brought to the surface on an improvised stretcher, said Maxim Cherbasov, head of the laboratory of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum in the city of Yakutsk.
Researchers Gavril Novgorodov and Erel Struchkov. Photo: Gavril Novgorodov via Reuters
He said the mammoth may have been just over a year old when it died, but tests will enable scientists to confirm that more precisely.
The fact that his head and torso survived was particularly unusual.
“As a rule, the part that molts first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by predators or modern birds,” Cherbasov said.
Photograph: Reuters/Roman Kotukov
“Here, for example, although the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved.”
This is the latest in a series of astonishing discoveries in Russian permafrost.
Last month, scientists in the same vast northeastern region – known as Sakha or Yakutia – uncovered 32,000-year-old remains. A small saber-toothed cat cub.
Earlier this year, a 44,000-year-old wolf carcass was discovered.
