Russian boy discovers 30,000 year old woolly Mammoth

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.

Scientists soon reached the spot to examine the carcass, which has scraps of fur, plenty of flesh, an ear, a tusk, some bones and an intact reproductive organ.

The 15 - 16 year old mammoth was 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 1,100 pounds, which will be unofficially called Zhenya ( after the nickname of the boy who discovered it), is supposed to have died about 30,000 years ago.

The mammoth carcass will be transported to the Krasnoyarsk region and from there, to researchers in Moscow.

Global warming has thawed ground in northern Russia that is usually almost permanently frozen, leading to the discoveries of a number of mammoth remains.

The carcass will become an exhibit at the Taymyr Regional Studies Museum in Russia.



Source: bretkichens