Russian scientists to study brain of ‘woolly mammoth of the century'
Baku, February 8 (AZERTAC). The representative of the Academy of Sciences of Russia said Yakut scientists will carry the craniotomy of the mammoth Yuka, previously found here.
An 11-year-old boy from a nomadic family in Russia's north has stumbled upon a massive well-preserved woolly mammoth, in what scientists describe as the best such discovery since 1901. Yevgeny Salinder, whose family lives near a polar station in the northern Taimyr Peninsula, discovered the frozen prehistoric animal when he was strolling along the banks of the Yenisei River in late August.
"He sensed an unpleasant odour and saw something sticking out of the ground — it was the mammoth's heels," said Alexei Tikhonov, director of the Saint Petersburg-based Zoological Museum, who rushed to the tundra after the boy's family notified scientists of the historic find. Tikhonov said it was the best preserved adult mammoth discovered in more than 100 years. Joined by employees of the nearby Sopkarga polar station, the scientists spent five days digging out the monster.
Tikhonov said the mammoth had died aged 15-16 around 30,000 years ago, adding that the tusk, skin, an eye and an ear were clearly visible. The precious find weighing nearly one ton was transported to the northern city of Dudinka and will later be brought to Saint Petersburg and Moscow where scientists can study it.
While many bones have been found before - so we have an idea of how the legendary creatures looked when they roamed the icy plains - this is unique in being an almost entire frozen carcass. Experts believe it could yield a treasure trove of information from the past, not only about these creatures, but the early humans who lived alongside them during the Ice Age. Most remarkable is the fact that it had two clean cuts on its back and several bones had been removed including its spine, skull, ribs and pelvis. The skull was found nearby. A long straight cut stretches from its head to the centre of its back, as well as an 'unusual patterned opening' on the right flank made of small serrations as if from a primitive saw-like tool. This skilful butchery could not have been the work of a predator such as a lion, and was probably the work of cavemen eking out a living during the Ice Age. Although mammoths featured in cave paintings from the time, this is the first evidence that humans preyed on them in the days when ice sheets covered 40 per cent of the northern hemisphere.
The 6ft-long mammoth, nicknamed Yuka, appears to have escaped another predator at an earlier stage as it had a broken leg and other injuries which suggest an epic struggle. Daniel Fisher, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan and a world expert on mammoths, said: 'There is dramatic evidence of a life-and-death struggle between Yuka and some top predator, probably a lion. Even more interesting, there are hints that humans may have taken over the kill at an early stage. The find suggests humans may have contributed to their extinction, before the creatures were finally wiped out in the great thaw ten millennia ago.
Mammoths evolved from African elephants when the Ice Age set in. They were around twice the size of today's elephants, weighed up to eight tons, and their long tusks helped them fight predators and pick grass and shrubs out of the ice. Scientists could dissect Yuka or use infrared scanning to look at its organs and understand how mammoths managed to adapt to the harsh conditions. Using the body tissue, which is normally lost, they can also use the latest technology to analyse its genome, raising the possibility of cloning a mammoth from the remains.
Global warming has thawed ground in northern Russia that is usually almost permanently frozen, leading to the discoveries of a number of mammoth remains.
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