50,000-Year-Old Baby Mammoth Discovered in Siberia Is ‘the Best-Preserved in the World,’ Expert Says
The mammoth, a female calf nicknamed Yana, is reportedly one of just seven mammoth carcasses that have been recovered across the world
The mammoth, a female calf nicknamed Yana, is reportedly one of just seven mammoth carcasses that have been recovered across the world AFP PHOTO / North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk / Michil Yakovlev/Getty A frozen mammoth was found in Russia.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/baby-mammoth-discovered2-122424-46265e87b7f446bba174ce314d61f609.jpg "This handout picture taken and released by the North-Eastern Federal University on December 23, 2024, shows the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years old, during its presentation in Yakutsk. Russian scientists on December 23, 2024 showed off the remarkably well preserved remains of a baby mammoth found in the permafrost-covered region of Yakutia.")
A 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in Siberia is believed to be the world’s best-preserved carcass.
Nicknamed Yana, the female calf is just one of seven mammoth carcasses that have been recovered across the world, according to The Associated Press and BBC.
The carcass was reportedly found as permafrost melted at the Batagaika crater, known as the “gateway to the underworld” in the area of Yakutia by people living nearby.
“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,” Maxim Cheprasov, the head of the University’s Mammoth Museum’s laboratory told Russian state media outlet, TASS.
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The mammoth is said to measure in at 4 feet tall and less than 6.6 feet long. It also weighs about 400 lbs., per the reports. She is believed to have been just 1 year old when she died.
Anatoly Nikolaev, rector of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory, said scientists were “surprised by its exceptional preservation,” according to NBC News.
“Yana is definitely the best-preserved in the world,” NEFU scientists said in a press release.
The residents who found Yana "were in the right place at the right time", Cherpasov said, per the BBC.
Related: World's Oldest DNA Sequence Found in Teeth of Mammoth That Lived More Than 1 Million Years Ago
"As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds,” Cherpasov told Reuters.
But Yana was apparently different. “Even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved,” he explained.
Per the reports, the mammoth is now being studied at Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory, which specializes in studying mammoths and their Ice Age environment and is located at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk.
Scientists want to learn more about the animal, including when it died.
