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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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Baby Mammoth Gives Up Secrets

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(Newser) – A nearly perfectly preserved 37,000-year-old baby mammoth is giving up tantalizing secrets about her species, scientists report. The creature, dubbed Lyuba by researchers, still sports clumps of hair and eyelashes, according to the Telegraph. Scientists have been able to examine stomach contents and the mineral makeup of the bones and teeth in the animal, found 2 years ago by reindeer herders in Siberia.

"No other specimen preserves this much of the original anatomy," said a researcher. "When I saw her, my first thought was, 'Oh my goodness, she's perfect.' It looked like she'd just drifted off to sleep. Suddenly what I'd been struggling to visualize for so long was lying right there for me to touch."

Scientists examine the frozen carcass of a 37,000-year-old baby mammoth that was discovered in a remote region in northern Siberia.
Scientists examine the frozen carcass of a 37,000-year-old baby mammoth that was discovered in a remote region in northern Siberia.   (AP Photo/Sergei Cherkashin)
The carcass of a baby mammoth is examined in the Arctic city of Salekhard.
The carcass of a baby mammoth is examined in the Arctic city of Salekhard.   (AP Photo/Sergei Cherkashin)
Scientists examine carcass of a baby mammoth in the Arctic city of Salekhard.
Scientists examine carcass of a baby mammoth in the Arctic city of Salekhard.   (AP Photo/NTV, Russian Television Channel)
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7 comments
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NutsInNY
May 3, 09 9:42 AM CDT
Love this stuff! HERE'S MORE: "They found the baby mammoth had recently fed, drinking its mothers milk... Analysis on the milk tusks – the mammoth equivalent milk teeth which provide an almost daily record of the animal's life history, like rings of a tree – will also help scientists find out what the climate was like at the time and if the mammoths underwent long migrations...The discovery of such a well preserved [carcass] has also raised hopes that scientists may one day be able to use DNA from the remains to clone a woolly mammoth by inserting genetic information from the frozen body into the egg of a modern elephant." Reply
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
anchower
May 3, 09 7:02 PM CDT
Just because you might be able to clone something doesn't mean you should.
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-1
proxieme2
May 3, 09 10:52 AM CDT
That's so cool :D *the 12-year-old-wanna-be-paleontologist in me grins* Reply
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+3
stormy7
May 3, 09 12:08 PM CDT
I"d like to know how all of those religious nuts out there, who believe the world is only five thousands year, explain this incredible descovery. Reply
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+6
stormy7
May 3, 09 12:09 PM CDT
I"d like to know how all of those religious nuts out there, who believe the world is only five thousands year, explain this incredible discovery.. Reply
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+2

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