Mammoth find 'a treasure trove'
2007-07-12 09:26
Moscow - The discovery of a baby
mammoth preserved in the Russian permafrost gives researchers
their best chance yet to build a genetic map of a species
extinct since the Ice Age, a Russian scientist said on
Wednesday.
"It's a lovely little baby mammoth indeed, found in perfect
condition," said Alexei Tikhonov, deputy director of the Russian
Academy of Science's Zoological Institute, which has been taking
care of the mammoth since it was uncovered in May.
"This specimen may provide unique material allowing us to
ultimately decipher the genetic makeup of the mammoth," he told Reuters by telephone.
The mammoth, a female who died at the age of six months, was
named "Lyuba" after the wife of reindeer breeder and hunter Yuri Khudi who found her in Russia's Arctic Yamalo-Nenetsk region.
She had been lying in the frozen ground for up to 40 000
years, said Tikhonov.
The hunter initially thought the mammoth was a dead reindeer
when he spotted parts of her body sticking out of damp snow.
When he realised it was a mammoth, scientists were called in
and transported the body to regional capital Salekhard, where
she is now being kept in a special refrigerator.
Treasure trove for scientists
Weighing 50kg, and measuring 85cm high
and 130cm from trunk to tail, Lyuba is roughly the
same size as a large dog.
Tikhonov said the fact the mammoth was so remarkably
well-preserved - its shaggy coat was gone but otherwise it
looked as though it had only recently died - meant it was a
potential treasure trove for scientists.
"Such a unique skin condition protects all the internal
organs from modern microbes and micro-organisms ... In terms of
its future genetic, molecular and microbiological studies, this
is just an unprecedented specimen."
But Tikhonov dismissed suggestions the mammoth could be
cloned and used to breed a live mammoth. Cloning can only be
done if whole cells are intact, but the freezing conditions will
have caused the cells to burst, he Tikhonov.
Tikhonov said the next stop on Lyuba's odyssey would be the
Zoological Museum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.
There, Lyuba will join a male baby mammoth called Dima who
was unearthed in Magadan in Russia's Far East in 1977 and until
now was Russia's best-known example of the species.
"They will make a nice couple, both roughly aged 40 000
years," Tikhonov said.
From St Petersburg, Lyuba will go to Jikei University in
Japan to undergo three-dimensional computer mapping of her body.
The mammoth will then return to St Petersburg for an autopsy
before being put on display in Salekhard.