Scientists discover 50,000-year-old baby mammoth | World | News

The 50,000-year-old remains of a baby mammoth have been recovered from melting permafrost in Russia.

Scientists in Siberia described the find as the best-preserved mammoth body ever found. Nicknamed Yana, the female mammoth weighs more than 220 pounds (100kg) and is 120cm (47 inches) tall.

The experts believe Yana was a year old when she died. Her remains are one of seven mammoth carcasses recovered worldwide – five were made in Russia and one in Canada.

Yana was found among the melting permafrost at the Batagaika crater in the far-eastern Russian area of Yakutia.

Known as the “gateway to the underworld”, the crater is just over half a mile (1km) deep and has previously revealed the remains of other ancient animals, including bison, horses and dogs.

Head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory, Maxim Cherpasov, told Reuters news agency people living nearby found Yana.

He said they saw the mammoth had almost completely thawed out and decided to build a make-shift stretcher to bring the remains out of the crater up to the surface.

Mr Cherpasov added: “As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds.”

Despite the mammoth’s front limbs being eaten already, the prehistoric animal’s head is “remarkably well-preserved”, according to the expert.

As permafrost melts due to the impact of climate change, more and more remains of prehistoric animals are being discovered.

The remains of a sabre-tooth cat believed to be 32,000 years old and a 44,000 year old wolf have also been recovered from melting permafrost.

Yana will be studied by scientists at Russia‘s North-Eastern Federal University, which has a dedicated mammoth research centre and museum.

The university described the find as “exceptional” and said it would give researchers new information about how mammoths lived and adapted to their surroundings. They also aim to find out when Yana died.