MEET YUKA, AGE 39,000: BEST-PRESERVED MAMMOTH EVER FOUND GOES ON DISPLAY IN MOSCOW (VIDEO) (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 18:50

The Yakutian baby mammoth "Yuka" delivered to the Central Artist House before the onset of the Russian Geographical Society Festival. (RIA Novsti/Vitaly Belousov)

An almost perfectly-preserved 39,000-year-old female mammoth has gone on display in Moscow, as scientists speculate on how the ancient creature died, and what she can reveal about the extinct species.

Discovered in 2010 in Russia’s Arctic Circle, Yuka - as scientists have dubbed her - has arrived from Japan on the latest, week-long leg of her wildly successful posthumous world tour, which she is spending in a cryo-chamber where the temperature is kept at a steady -18 Celsius.

The young woolly mammoth was discovered by indigenous Yakut tusk-hunters, during the brief northern summer, and appeared almost totally intact, including its distinctive reddish fur, although with mammoths having possessed almost any color coat, this is not necessarily what she looked like during her lifetime.

Looking at her size and weight of just over 100 kilograms, as well as physical characteristics, such as tusk rings and body, proportions researchers deduced that she was likely between 6 and 11 years of age at the time of death, a mere youngling in a species that is thought to have lived up to 80.

VIDEO AND MORE...

http://rt.com/news/200215-mammoth-moscow-yuka-lion/