The “exquisitely preserved” remains of an young woolly mammoth – thought to be 10,000 years old – has been discovered in a frozen cliff in Siberia. The body of this pre-historic animals had “strawberry-blonde” hair.
The well-preserved mammal, which has been named Yuka, would have stood between 9 and 15 feet tall and is thought to have been between three and four years old when it died and still has its foot pads and ginger hair intact. Experts said it might have lain unnoticed in its icy tomb for more than 10,000 years, with its injuries being perfectly frozen in time, the Telegraph reported.
The juvenile mammoth, which was found in a frozen cliff in Siberia, gives an important insight into the unknown secrets of the animal and will help experts determine how eye and hair colour were spread among mammoth populations. The body of a young woolly mammoth has been discovered – and it has strawberry-blonde hair. And the incredible find supports scientists’ claims that not all mammoths had dark hair! Mammoths have previously been thought to have darker fur, with the possibility of lighter-coloured coats only being proposed in 2006 when scientists analysed genes from a bone.
Yuka’s injuries include a freshly broken leg and flesh wounds, which indicate ancient humans may have “stolen” the carcass from another predator. They showed young Yuka had a freshly broken leg and serious flesh wounds, as well as older scratches, which may show it, survived an earlier attack. But, instead of only showing damage consistent with a lion attacks, the body also has cut marks and openings which appear more likely to have come from human beings.
In found to be true, it will be the first evidence of interaction between mammoths and ancient humans ever found in the area.
Tusk hunters in Siberia found the mammoth and handed it to the Mammuthus organisation, enabling experts to begin analysing it.
It is not the first mammoth body to be found, but it has unusually well-preserved soft tissue with muscle, skin and internal organs that are rarely found on carcasses.
