50,000-year-old baby mammoth discovered in Siberian permafrost

Tengrinews.kz - A remarkably well-preserved baby mammoth carcass, nicknamed "Yana", has been unearthed by researchers in Siberia, according to Reuters.
On Monday, Siberian scientists from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk unveiled the remains of a female baby mammoth over 50,000 years old.
The carcass, weighing over 110 kg, was dug up in the Batagaika crater in the remote region of Yakutia, where other prehistoric animals, including a lion cub and a rhino, have been previously found due to the area’s permafrost which acts like a "giant freezer."
Researchers nicknamed the baby mammoth "Yana" after the river basin where she was found.
Yana is considered one of only seven complete carcasses ever discovered. The scientists explained that the trunk, often the first part consumed by predators, has been preserved despite losing most forelimbs.

"The part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds. Here, for example, even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved," added Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory in Yakutsk.

Photo: Michil Yakovlev/North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk/AFP/Getty Images

"We were all surprised by the exceptional preservation of the mammoth," said the university rector, Anatoly Nikolayev.

Researchers estimate her age to be "one year old or a bit more." Further research will be carried out to identify her exact age.
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