Russia displayed the well-preserved remains of a 50,000-year-old mammoth on Monday. The mammoth was discovered in the far north of Russia during the summer.
The large female mammoth was called “Iana” as a tribute to the river where she was discovered in the scarcely inhabited region of Yakutia.
The scientific community was shown the building at Northwest Federal University of Yakutsk on Monday, according to a statement from the academic institution.
The remarkable condition of this mammoth, with no missing parts or visible damage, astonished everyone, as stated by Anatoli Nikolaïev, the university’s rector.
Iana, potentially the most well-preserved mammoth specimen globally, is 180kg in weight and stands at 1.2 meters tall, measuring less than two meters in length.
The university stated that this finding will offer insights into the development of mammoths, their adaptive traits, the environmental conditions of their habitats in the past, and other related factors.
Studies will ascertain Iana’s precise age to be around one year or slightly older, based on estimates. This summer, her 50,000-year-old body was found in the vicinity of the Batagaika research station, where other ancient animal fossils have been unearthed.
Only six mammoth skeletons have been found worldwide: five in Russia and one in Canada, as reported by the university.
In Yakutia, a remote area as big as Argentina and surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, permafrost acts like a massive refrigerator that conserves ancient creatures, particularly mammoths.