Published December 24, 2024 at 3:34 p.m.
Foreign. Russian researchers have unveiled the remains of a 50,000-year-old mammoth discovered in the remote Yakutia region of Siberia. The mammoth, named Jana after the river stream where she was found, is described as the best-preserved mammoth find in the world.
Share the article
TwittraShare
The small mammoth, which weighed over 100 kilograms and was about 120 centimeters tall and 200 centimeters long, is believed to have been only a year old when she died.
Her remains were discovered by locals near the Batagaika crater, the world's largest permafrost crater, reports BBC News.
– They were in the right place at the right time, says Maksim Cherpasov from the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory.
He explains that modern predators often eat certain parts of mammoths that thaw, but that Jana's head is “remarkably well preserved.” According to researcher Gavril Novgorodov, Jana is believed to have been trapped in a swamp, which made possible her exceptional preservation.
The mammoth is now being studied at the Northeastern Federal University in Yakutsk, where scientists are trying to determine when she died.
The find is the latest in a series of prehistoric discoveries in the region. Last month, the remains of a mummified saber-toothed cat were revealed, and earlier this year, a 44,000-year-old wolf was found.