The most intact mammoth carcass ever discovered

The team named the young mammoth Yana after the river basin where they discovered its body. This is the most intact mammoth body ever found in the world. Weighing more than 100 kg, 120 cm tall and 200 cm long, Yana is estimated to have been only about a year old when she died. Before that, there were only 6 similar discoveries in the world, including 5 in Russia and one in Canada, according to BBC.

Local residents found Yana in the Batagaika crater, the world’s largest permafrost crater. According to Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory, the group of residents happened to be in the right place at the right time. They saw the mammoth’s body almost completely thawed and decided to build a makeshift stretcher to lift it to the ground. The first thawed part, especially the proboscis, is eaten by modern predators or birds. Although the front limbs were also amputated, the elephant’s head was exceptionally well preserved.

Gavril Novgorodov, a researcher at the museum, said the young mammoth could have gotten stuck in the swamp and its body would have remained intact for several tens of thousands of years. Yana is being studied by Northeastern Federal University in the capital Yakutsk. Currently, scientists are conducting tests to confirm when the animal died.

This is not the only prehistoric discovery in Russia’s vast permafrost in recent years as the long-frozen ground begins to thaw due to climate change. Last month, researchers also announced the mummy of a saber-toothed cat that is nearly 32,000 years old.

The mammoth is an extinct species of ancient elephant that existed about 4.8 million to 4,500 years ago. They have hair nearly 50 cm long, denser than today’s elephants, long and curved tusks, very long teeth, curved inward and sharp, suitable for crushing grass. Mammoths had short hind legs so the body’s center of gravity was tilted backwards, shoulders were high, and feet had only 4 toes. Mammoths’ trunks had two finger-like protuberances, one in front and one in back, which helped them easily grasp grass. They have black, brown or reddish-brown skin, yellow fur, and are 3 – 3.3 m tall.