Where did the mammoths live map. Difference between mammoth and elephant. Impact of climate change

The mammoth fauna included about 80 species of mammals, which, thanks to a number of anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations managed to adapt to living in cold continental climate periglacial forest-steppe and tundra-steppe regions with their permafrost, harsh winters with little snow and powerful summer insolation. Around the turn of the Holocene, about 11 thousand years ago, due to a sharp warming and humidification of the climate, which led to the unfreezing of the tundra-steppes and other fundamental changes in landscapes, the mammoth fauna disintegrated. Some species, such as the mammoth itself, the woolly rhinoceros, the giant deer, cave lion and others disappeared from the face of the earth. Row large species calloused and ungulates – wild camels, horses, yaks, saiga survived in the steppes Central Asia, some others have adapted to life in completely different natural areas(bison, kulan); many, such as reindeer, musk ox, arctic fox, wolverine, mountain hare and others, were forced far to the north and sharply reduced their area of ​​distribution. The reasons for the extinction of the mammoth fauna are not fully known. Over the long history of its existence, it has already experienced warm interglacial periods, and was then able to survive. Obviously, the latest warming has caused a more significant restructuring natural environment, or maybe the species themselves have exhausted their evolutionary capabilities.

Mammoths, woolly (Mammuthus primigenius) and Columbian (Mammuthus columbi), lived in the Pleistocene-Holocene over a vast territory: from the South and Central Europe to Chukotka, Northern China and Japan (Hokkaido), as well as in North America. The existence of the Columbian mammoth was 250 - 10, woolly 300 - 4 thousand years ago (some researchers also include southern (2300 - 700 thousand years old) and trogontherian (750 - 135 thousand years old) elephants to the genus Mammuthus). Contrary to popular belief, mammoths were not the ancestors of modern elephants: they appeared on earth later and died out without leaving even distant descendants. Mammoths roamed in small herds, sticking to river valleys and feeding on grass, branches of trees and bushes. Such herds were very mobile - collecting the required amount of food in the tundra-steppe was not easy. The size of the mammoths was quite impressive: large males could reach a height of 3.5 meters, and their tusks were up to 4 m long and weighed about 100 kilograms. A thick coat, 70-80 cm long, protected mammoths from the cold. The average life expectancy was 4550, maximum 80 years. The main reason for the extinction of these highly specialized animals is the sharp warming and humidification of the climate at the boundary of the Pleistocene and Holocene, many snowy winters, as well as an extensive marine transgression that flooded the Eurasian shelf and North America.

The structural features of the limbs and trunk, the proportions of the body, the shape and size of the mammoth’s tusks indicate that it, like modern elephants, ate various plant foods. With the help of tusks, animals dug out food from under the snow and tore off the bark of trees; Wedge ice was mined and used in winter instead of water. To grind food, the mammoth had an upper and lower jaw only one very large tooth at a time. The chewing surface of these teeth was a wide, long plate covered with transverse enamel ridges. Apparently, in the warm season the animals fed mainly on herbaceous vegetation. In the intestines and oral cavity of the mammoths that died in the summer, cereals and sedges predominated; lingonberry bushes, green mosses and thin shoots of willow, birch, and alder were found in small quantities. The weight of an adult mammoth's stomach filled with food could reach 240 kg. It can be assumed that in winter time, especially in snowy areas, shoots of trees and shrubs acquired primary importance in the diet of animals. The huge amount of food consumed forced mammoths, like modern elephants, to lead an active lifestyle and often change their feeding areas.

Adult mammoths were massive animals, with relatively long legs and a short body. Their height at the withers reached 3.5 m in males and 3 m in females. Characteristic feature appearance The mammoth had a sharp sloping back, and for old males there was a pronounced cervical interception between the “hump” and the head. In mammoth calves, these exterior features were softened, and the upper line of the head and back was a single, slightly curved upward arc. Such an arc is also present in adult mammoths, as well as in modern elephants and is connected, purely mechanically, with the maintenance huge weight internal organs. The mammoth's head was larger than that of modern elephants. The ears are small, oval elongated, 5–6 times smaller than those of asian elephant, and 15–16 times less than that of the African one. The rostral part of the skull was quite narrow, the alveoli of the tusks were located very close to each other, and the base of the trunk rested on them. The tusks are more powerful than those of African and Asian elephants: their length in old males reached 4 m with a base diameter of 1618 cm, in addition, they were twisted up and inward. The tusks of females were smaller (2–2.2 m, diameter at the base 8–10 cm) and almost straight. The ends of the tusks, due to the peculiarities of foraging, were usually worn away only from the outside. The mammoths' legs were massive, five-toed, with 3 small hooves on the front legs and 4 on the hind legs; the feet are rounded, their diameter in adults was 40–45 cm. The special arrangement of the bones of the hand contributed to its greater compactness, and the loose subcutaneous tissue and elastic skin allowed the foot to expand and increase its area on soft marshy soils. But still the most unique feature appearance mammoth - a thick coat consisting of three types of hair: undercoat, intermediate and covering, or guard hair. The topography and color of the coat was relatively the same in males and females: a cap of black, forward-directed coarse hair, 15–20 cm long, grew on the forehead and crown, and the trunk and ears were covered with undercoat and a brown or brownish awn. The entire body of the mammoth was also covered with long, 80–90 cm guard hairs, under which a thick yellowish undercoat was hidden. The color of the skin of the body was light yellow or brown; dark pigment spots were observed in areas free from fur. During the winter, mammoths moulted; The winter coat was thicker and lighter than the summer coat.

Mammoths had a special relationship with primitive man. Mammoth remains at early Paleolithic human sites were quite rare and belonged mainly to young individuals. It seems that primitive hunters of that period did not hunt mammoths often, and the hunt for these huge animals was rather a random event. In Late Paleolithic settlements, the picture changes dramatically: the number of bones increases, the ratio of hunted males, females and young animals approaches the natural structure of the herd. The hunting of mammoths and other large animals of that period no longer acquired a selective, but a mass character; The main method of catching animals is driving them onto rocky cliffs, into trapping pits, onto the fragile ice of rivers and lakes, into swampy areas of swamps and on rafting grounds. The hunted animals were finished off with stones, darts and spears with stone tips. Mammoth meat was used for food, tusks were used to make weapons and crafts, bones, skulls and skins were used to build dwellings and ritual structures. Mass hunting by people of the Late Paleolithic, the growth in the number of tribes of hunters, the improvement of hunting tools and methods of production against the backdrop of constantly deteriorating living conditions associated with changes in familiar landscapes, according to some researchers, played a decisive role in the fate of these animals.

The importance of mammoths in the life of primitive people is evidenced by the fact that 20–30 thousand years ago, artists of the Cro-Magnon era depicted mammoths on stone and bone, using flint burins and brushes with ocher, ferric oxide and manganese oxides. The paint was first ground with fat or bone marrow. Flat images were painted on cave walls, on slate and graphite plates, and on fragments of tusks; sculptural - created from bone, marl or slate using flint burins. It is very possible that such figurines were used as talismans, family totems, or played another ritual role. Despite the limitations expressive means, many of the images are made very artistically, and quite accurately convey the appearance of fossil giants.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a little more than twenty reliable finds of mammoth remains in the form of frozen carcasses, their parts, skeletons with remains of soft tissue and skin were known in Siberia. It can also be assumed that some of the finds remained unknown to science; many were discovered too late and could not be examined. Using the example of the Adams mammoth, discovered in 1799 on the Bykovsky Peninsula, it is clear that news about the found animals reached the Academy of Sciences only several years after they were discovered, and getting to the far corners of Siberia even in the second half of the twentieth century was not easy . The greatest difficulty was extracting the corpse from the frozen ground and transporting it. The work of excavating and delivering a mammoth discovered in the Berezovka River valley in 1900 (undoubtedly the most significant paleozoological discovery of the early twentieth century) can be called heroic without exaggeration.

In the 20th century, the number of finds of mammoth remains in Siberia doubled. This is due to the widespread development of the North, the rapid development of transport and communications, and the rise in the cultural level of the population. The first comprehensive expedition using modern technology there was a trip for the Taimyr mammoth, found in 1948 on an unnamed river, later called the Mammoth River. Removing the remains of animals “sealed” into the permafrost has become much easier these days thanks to the use of motor pumps that defrost and erode the soil with water. The “cemetery” of mammoths, discovered by N.F., should be considered a remarkable natural monument. Grigoriev in 1947 on the Berelekh River (the left tributary of the Indigirka River) in Yakutia. For 200 meters, the river bank here is covered with a scattering of mammoth bones washed out of the bank slope.

By studying the Magadan (1977) and Yamal (1988) mammoth calves, scientists were able to clarify not only many issues of the anatomy and morphology of mammoths, but also draw a number of important conclusions about their habitat and the causes of extinction. The last few years have brought new remarkable discoveries in Siberia: special mention should be made of the Yukagir mammoth (2002), which represents a unique, scientific point vision, material (the head of an adult mammoth with remains of soft tissue and hair was discovered) and a baby mammoth found in 2007 in the Yuribey River basin in Yamal. Outside Russia, it is necessary to note the finds of mammoth remains made by American scientists in Alaska, as well as a unique “trap cemetery” with the remains of more than 100 mammoths, discovered by L. Agenbrod in the town of Hot Springs (South Dakota, USA) in 1974.

The exhibits in the mammoth hall are unique - after all, the animals presented here disappeared from the face of the earth several thousand years ago. Some of the most significant of them need to be discussed in more detail.

Mammoths belong to a genus of mammals that have long gone extinct and no longer exist on earth. They amaze with their size. Many mammoths have a height of 5-6 meters and a body weight of about 11 tons. In size, they are twice as large as today's largest African elephants.

To this day, archaeologists and researchers discover mammoth bones. Drawings of these mammals made by prehistoric man were also found. There have been cases when in Alaska and Siberia, carcasses of animals were found that were able to survive due to being in the cold. There were several species of mammals. The main part was the same in size as the elephants of our time. But they were stronger and more powerful than their relatives. The legs were shorter, the fur was long and thick, and the tusks were curved. Precisely, tusks helped mammoths get food from under snow rubble. Mammalian teeth coped well with coarse varieties of plant food.

These amazing animals became extinct approximately 9-10 thousand years ago, when the Ice Age began. Scientists still disagree on why mammoths could not survive. One point of view says that the animals did not survive because of the constant hunters who exterminated them. Another opinion is that mammoths died long before humans appeared in their areas.

1993 is famous significant event. Remains were found on Wrangel Island small looking, whose age is from 7 to 3 thousand years. It turns out that this type existed during the time of the Egyptian pyramids and became extinct only when Tutankhamun reigned.

Perhaps the largest burial of mammoths is located in the Kargat region. The bones are processed by scientists who draw conclusions about the existence of humanity in ancient times in Siberia.

Interesting Facts

Modern scientists are trying to recreate the mammal using genetic material from found mammoth corpses. But to date, all attempts have failed.

There is a monument dedicated to this powerful animal. It was installed in the village of Kuleshovka in 1841.

On the banks of the Ob River there is a giant life-size mammoth monument.

Option 2

Mammoths were the largest animals from the elephant family. Some of them were five and a half meters tall and weighed up to ten tons; there were also dwarf types of mammoths, their height was no more than two meters, and their weight did not exceed nine hundred kilograms.

Mammoths ate plants, this became known after they found the remains of animals that were well preserved and in laboratories they were able to study the remaining food in their stomachs. Grass and tree leaves were found among the remains. To maintain health, mammoths needed about two hundred kilograms of food every day. Mammoths picked leaves from trees and put them into their mouths using their trunks. Since mammoths lived not only in the south, but also in the north, they had to survive in the winter. IN cold period mammoths survived thanks to layers of fat and plants that did not freeze in the cold.

The reproduction of mammoths is very similar to the reproduction of modern elephants. Mammoths live more than sixty years.

Surprisingly, mammoths were very reserved and peaceful animals.

Primitive people killed mammoths by making a hole as a trap, then slaughtered the animal. They made clothes from the skins and used them as decoration for their homes. Mammoths posed a great danger to babies saber tooth tigers. The kids’ enemies were also wolves, who were fearless and took prey straight from the tiger’s mouth. Scientists believe that man ranks first among the enemies of mammoths.

Unfortunately, such interesting animals became extinct about ten thousand years ago due to the last ice age. Scientists have put forward two main reasons for the extinction of mammoths. The first one says - important role Humans played a role in extinction. Another reason explains extinction due to flooding, climate change, and the disappearance of food for mammoths.

The first version was when they found the remains of people with big amount mammoth bones and tusks. This version quickly gained popularity.

Scientists who are inclined to the second version believe that humans could not have such an influence on the lives of animals. To prove this, they cite the facts that along with mammoths, many other species of animals became extinct.

Just recently, scientists announced that they could create a copy of the mammoth. Since they became extinct relatively recently, scientists can collect mammoth DNA and incubate it in a female elephant. Fortunately, this method does not work with dinosaurs.

Many people do not know that mammoths are a little similar to modern camels, since the hump is the result of the accumulation of a powerful reserve of fat.

Many people take advantage of the fact that a tusk costs more than two million rubles.

A message about mammoths, grade 5, will briefly tell you about the giant animals that inhabited our planet during the glaciation period. Also, a report on mammoths can be used while preparing for a lesson or writing an essay on a given topic.

Brief message about mammoths

Mammoths(or they were also called northern woolly elephants) are an extinct group of animals that lived on our planet a very long time ago, during a period of total cooling, about 1.6 million years ago.

The word "mammoth" Tatar origin: The term "mamma" means "earth". It is likely that given origin due to the fact that since time immemorial people have found surviving bones of giants in the ground. For example, the ancient inhabitants of the North thought that mammoths lived underground like moles.

Appearance of mammoths

The main species of these giant animals rarely exceeded modern elephants in size. Thus, the North American subspecies of mammoths reached a height of 5 m with a weight of 12 tons. And dwarf species of mammoths were no higher than 2 m and weighed up to 900 kg. Unlike elephants, mammoths had a massive body, short legs, long curved tusks and long hair. Animals used their tusks to obtain food for themselves in winter, picking it out from under the thick snow. The molars had numerous, thin dentin-enamel plates that helped chew rough plant food.

Where did mammoths live?

Mammoths lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Paleontological excavations by scientists have shown that the animals led a nomadic lifestyle and constantly moved from one place to another, moving in the direction of glacial drift. In Europe, during severe snowy winters, mammoths roamed the territory of modern Crimean peninsula and coast Mediterranean Sea. They inhabited cold, little snow-covered and dry steppes.

What did mammoths eat?

Since mammoths lived during the Ice Age, their diet consisted of scanty vegetation. When examining the found animals, remains of larch and pine twigs, wild caraway and sedge leaves were found in their stomachs. fir cones, flowers and moss.

Why did mammoths become extinct?

Paleontologists believe that humans caused the disappearance of mammoths. They were the first creatures to suffer such a sad fate. The giants' body was covered with thick, long and warm hair, which most likely attracted ancient man, who was looking for a way to warm himself in the cold and insulate his home. People also hunted them for their tasty, fatty and nutritious meat. Therefore, only primitive people saw living mammoths, which caused the death of these animals.

• Modern naturalists were lucky enough to study these animals thanks to paleontological excavations, during which it was possible to find not only animal skeletons, but also entire frozen carcasses. Thus, in 1901, the so-called Berezovsky mammoth was discovered. His stuffed animal is kept in the Zoological Museum of St. Petersburg. Its body is covered with fur, 35 cm long. Underneath it, scientists discovered a soft and warm undercoat, subcutaneous fat, which was located on the shoulders. There were remains of undigested food in the mammoth's stomach.
• In 1977, at the mouth of the Siberian Dima River, a small mammoth was found, whose age is 44 thousand years.
• Mammoths had a hump on their back, like camels, where they stored fat reserves.
• Every day the mammoth needed 180 kg of food to maintain health. African elephant, for example, eats 300 kg of food.
• The giants' ears were smaller than those of modern elephants. This is due to the cold climate.
• The mammoth, from 30,000 to 12,000 years ago, was the most popular subject of Neolithic artists. He was depicted on rocks in caves Western Europe. For example, cave paintings with mammoths can be seen in France in the Roufignac cave.

We hope that the report on mammoths helped to learn about the first living creatures whose extinction was caused by man. A short story You can leave information about mammoths using the comment form below.

It is still unclear why mammoths became extinct. And although they lived on the Arctic Wrangel Island until the time of construction Egyptian pyramids, there is no written evidence about the reasons for the disappearance of mammoths from our planet.

If we discard assumptions about the fall of meteorites, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, the main reasons will be climate and people.

In 2008, an unusual accumulation of bones of mammoths and other animals was discovered, which could not have appeared as a result of natural processes, such as hunting by predators or the death of animals. These were the skeletal remains of at least 26 mammoths, and the bones were sorted by species.

Apparently, people for a long time they kept the bones that were most interesting to them, some of which bear traces of tools. And in hunting weapons the people of the end of the ice age had no shortage.

How were carcass parts delivered to the sites? And Belgian archaeozoologists have an answer to this: they could transport meat and tusks from the butchering site using dogs.

Mammoths went extinct about 10 thousand years ago during the last Ice Age. Some experts do not rule out that humans also changed the climate... by destroying mammoths and other northern giants. With the disappearance large mammals producing large volumes of methane, the level of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere should have decreased by about 200 units. This led to a cooling of 9-12°C about 14 thousand years ago.

Mammoths reached a height of 5.5 meters and a body weight of 10-12 tons. Thus, these giants were twice as heavy as the largest modern land mammals - African elephants.

In Siberia and Alaska, there are known cases of the discovery of mammoth corpses that were preserved due to their presence in the thickness of permafrost. Therefore, scientists are not dealing with individual fossils or several skeleton bones, but can even study the blood, muscles, and fur of these animals and also determine what they ate.

Mammoths had a massive body, long hair and long curved tusks; the latter could serve the mammoth for getting food from under the snow in winter. Mammoth skeleton:

In terms of its skeletal structure, the mammoth bears a significant resemblance to the living Indian elephant. Huge mammoth tusks, up to 4 m in length, weighing up to 100 kg, were located in the upper jaw, protruded forward, curved upward and diverged to the sides. Mammoth and mastodon are another extinct gigantic proboscis mammal:

It is interesting that as they wore out, the mammoth’s teeth (like those of modern elephants) were replaced with new ones, and such a change could take place up to 6 times during its life. Monument to the mammoth in Salekhard:

Most known species mammoths - woolly mammoth (lat. Mammuthus primigenius). It appeared in Siberia 200-300 thousand years ago, from where it spread to Europe and North America.

The woolly mammoth is the most exotic animal of the Ice Age and is its symbol. Real giants, mammoths at the withers reached 3.5 m and weighed 4-6 tons. Mammoths were protected from the cold by thick, long hair with developed undercoat, which was more than a meter long on the shoulders, hips and sides, as well as a layer of fat up to 9 cm thick. 12-13 thousand years ago, mammoths lived throughout Northern Eurasia and a large part of North America . Due to climate warming, the habitats of mammoths - the tundra-steppe - have decreased. Mammoths migrated to the north of the continent and for the last 9-10 thousand years lived on a narrow strip of land along the Arctic coast of Eurasia, which is currently for the most part flooded by the sea. The Last Mammoths lived on Wrangel Island, where they became extinct about 3,500 years ago.

In winter, the coarse wool of the mammoth consisted of hair 90 cm long. A layer of fat about 10 cm thick served as additional thermal insulation.

Mammoths are herbivorous; they ate mainly herbaceous plants (cereals, sedges, forbs), small shrubs (dwarf birch, willow), tree shoots and moss. In winter, in order to feed themselves, in search of food, they raked snow with their forelimbs and extremely developed upper incisors - tusks, the length of which in large males was more than 4 meters, and they weighed about 100 kg. Mammoth teeth were well adapted for grinding rough food. Each of the 4 teeth of a mammoth changed five times during its life. A mammoth ate 200-300 kg of vegetation per day, that is, he had to eat 18-20 hours a day and constantly move around in search of new pastures.

It is assumed that living mammoths were colored black or dark brown. Because they had small ears and short trunks (compared to modern elephants), the woolly mammoth was adapted to life in cold climates.

Thanks to mammoths, rulers of the northern polar steppes and tundras, ancient man survived in harsh conditions: they gave him food and clothing, shelter, shelter from the cold. Thus, mammoth meat, subcutaneous and abdominal fat were used for nutrition; for clothing - skins, sinews, wool; for the manufacture of dwellings, tools, hunting equipment and equipment and crafts - tusks and bones.

During the Ice Age, the woolly mammoth was the largest animal in the Eurasian expanses.

It is assumed that woolly mammoths lived in groups of 2-9 individuals and were led by older females.

The life expectancy of mammoths was approximately the same as that of modern elephants, i.e. no more than 60-65 years old.

“By its nature, the mammoth is a meek and peace-loving animal, and affectionate towards people. When meeting a person, the mammoth not only does not attack him, but even clings and fawns over the person” (from the notes of Tobolsk local historian P. Gorodtsov, 19th century).

The largest number of mammoth bones are found in Siberia. Giant mammoth cemetery - New Siberian Islands. In the last century, up to 20 tons were mined there annually elephant tusks. Monument to mammoths in Khanty-Mansiysk:

In Yakutia there is an auction where you can buy the remains of mammoths. The approximate price of a kilogram of mammoth tusk is $200.

Unique finds.

Adams' Mammoth

The world's first mammoth was found in 1799 in the lower reaches of the Lena River by hunter O. Shumakhov, who reached the Lena River delta in search of mammoth tusks. The huge block of frozen earth and ice where he found the mammoth tusk completely thawed only in the summer of 1804. In 1806, M. Adams, an associate professor of zoology at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, who was passing through Yakutsk, learned about the find. Having gone to the place, he discovered the skeleton of a mammoth, eaten wild animals and dogs. The skin was preserved on the mammoth’s head; one ear, dried eyes and brain also survived, and on the side on which it lay there was skin with thick, long hair. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the zoologist, the skeleton was delivered to St. Petersburg that same year. So, in 1808, for the first time in the world, a complete skeleton of a mammoth was mounted - Adams' mammoth. Currently, he, like the baby mammoth Dima, is on display at the museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

In 1970, on the left bank of the Berelekh River, the left tributary of the Indigirka River (90 km northwest of the village of Chokurdakh in the Allaikhovsky ulus), a huge accumulation of bone remains was found that belonged to approximately 160 mammoths that lived 13 thousand years ago. Nearby was the dwelling of ancient hunters. In terms of the quantity and quality of preserved fragments of mammoth bodies, the Berelekh cemetery is the largest in the world. It indicates a massive death of weakened and snow-drifted animals.

Scientists tried to establish the cause of the death of a huge number of mammoths on the Berelech River. During these works, a frozen hind leg of a medium-sized adult mammoth, 170 cm long, was found. Over many thousands of years, the leg became mummified, but was preserved quite well - along with the skin and wool, individual strands of which reached a length of 120 cm. The absolute age of the Berelekh mammoth's leg was determined approximately at 13 thousand years. The age of other mammoth bones found, which were dated later, ranged from 14 to 12 thousand years. The remains of other animals were also found at the burial site. For example, next to the frozen leg of a mammoth, the frozen and mummified corpses of an ancient wolverine and a white partridge, which lived in the same era as mammoths, were discovered. Bones of other animals, woolly rhinoceros, ancient horse, bison, musk ox, reindeer, white hare, and wolf that lived in the area of ​​the Berelekh location during the Ice Age were relatively few - less than 1%. Mammoth bones accounted for more than 99.3% of all finds.

Currently, paleontological materials from the Berelekh cemetery are stored at the Institute of Diamond Geology and noble metals SB RAS in Yakutsk.

Shandri Mammoth

In 1971, D. Kuzmin discovered the skeleton of a mammoth that lived 41 thousand years ago on the right bank of the Shandrin River, which flows into the channel of the Indigirka River delta. Inside the skeleton was a frozen lump of entrails. Plant remains consisting of herbs, branches, shrubs, and seeds were found in the gastrointestinal tract. So, thanks to this, one of the five unique content remains gastrointestinal tract mammoths (cut size 70x35 cm), we managed to find out the animal’s diet. The mammoth was a large male, 60 years old, and apparently died from old age and physical exhaustion. The skeleton of the Shandrin mammoth is located at the Institute of History and Philosophy of the SB RAS.

Mammoth Dima

In 1977, a well-preserved 7-8 month old mammoth calf was discovered in the Kolyma River basin. It was a touching and sad sight for the prospectors who discovered the baby mammoth Dima (he was named after the spring of the same name, in the valley of which he was found): he was lying on his side with mournfully outstretched legs, with closed pelvises and a slightly crumpled trunk.

The find immediately became a world sensation due to its excellent preservation and the possible cause of the baby mammoth’s death. The poet Stepan Shchipachev composed a touching poem about a baby mammoth who had fallen behind his mammoth mother, and an animated film was made about the unfortunate baby mammoth.

Yukagir mammoth

In 2002, near the Muksunuokha River, 30 km from the village of Yukagir, schoolchildren Innokenty and Grigory Gorokhov found the head of a male mammoth. In 2003 - 2004 the remaining parts of the corpse were excavated. The most well preserved are the head with tusks, most of the skin, the left ear and eye socket, as well as the left front leg, consisting of the forearm and with muscles and tendons. Of the remaining parts, cervical and thoracic vertebrae, part of the ribs, shoulder blades, the right humerus, part of the viscera, and wool were found. According to radiocarbon dating, the mammoth lived 18 thousand years ago. A male about 3 m tall at the withers and weighing 4 - 5 tons died at the age of 40 - 50 years (for comparison: average duration The lifespan of modern elephants is 60 - 70 years), probably after falling into a pit. Currently, anyone can see a model of the mammoth’s head in the Mammoth Museum of the Federal State Scientific Institution “Institute of Applied Ecology of the North” in Yakutsk.

IN permafrost The most complete remains of a mammoth known to science were found in Yamal.

In particular, the trunk, eyes and part of the animal's hair were completely preserved.

The six-month-old female died about 10 thousand years ago.

Mammoths are extinct relatives of elephants. Thanks to their thick and long hair, they could live far to the north.

The most common trace of mammoths on earth is giant curved tusks. Looking at them, most people think that the mammoths themselves were significantly larger than elephants, but that's not true.

The small mammoth calf, found in Yamal, has a height at the withers of about 130 centimeters and weighs only 50 kg.

Ten thousand years ago, when the last ice age ended, mammoths had already disappeared from the face of the planet.

The rare find was discovered in May by reindeer herder Yuri Khudiy. He literally tripped over her on the bank of the Yuribey River. Either the water eroded the soil, or the permafrost thawed, but the corpse began to partially protrude from the ground.

The missing tail

Last week, a representative group of international experts gathered around the discovery in Salekhard.

“This mammoth does not have any external damage, except for the tail being bitten off by someone,” says Alexey Tikhonov, deputy director of the Institute of Zoology Russian Academy Sci. “Given the state of preservation, this is the most valuable find of its kind in the world.”

Larry Egenbrod, director of the Mammoth Research Center in Hot Springs, South Dakota, points out that there are only three small mammoth remains in the world. Finding them in any condition is already the greatest success, the scientist believes.

Some experts believe that if frozen sperm or other well-preserved cells containing mammoth DNA can be found, the species could be brought back to life through cloning.

An enthusiast of this idea is, in particular, Dr. Egenbrod.

“When we were studying the Yarkov mammoth (an adult found in 1977 in permafrost in Taimyr), geneticists told me: get high-quality DNA, and we will present you with a baby mammoth in 22 months,” he said in an interview with the BBC.

Profitable business

Yarkov's mammoth did not give DNA required quality, but many researchers are convinced that the discovery of suitable remains in the vastness of Siberia is only a matter of time.

Thawed sperm could be injected into the egg of an Asian elephant.

Even greater purity of the experiment can be achieved if the latter is first purified from its own DNA. In this case, not a hybrid of a mammoth and an elephant, but a real mammoth calf should be born.

Larry Egenbrod greatly regrets that many potentially valuable mammoth remains have been lost to science due to the fault of ignorant tusk and skin traders.

The center of illegal business is Yakutsk. Locals They scour the tundra in search of mammoths, and the finds have little chance of falling into the hands of specialists.

According to Larry Egenbrod, last years the situation even worsened.

“In the past, collectors were only interested in mammoth tusks, but now they buy everything,” he says. “The Internet is full of offers to buy mammoth wool for $50 an inch.”

By Russian laws, the remains of mammoths are the property of the state, but the authorities so far pay little attention to the illegal trade, the scientist added.

The Yamal mammoth will be transported to the University of Tokyo by the end of this year, where a team of experts led by Professor Naoki Suzuki will conduct a detailed examination of it, including a computed tomography scan of its internal organs.

Mammoths first appeared on earth in the Pliocene era, approximately 4.8 million years ago.

Experts are still arguing about what led to their death: sudden changes climate, extermination by primitive hunters, or both.

According to available data, the last herd of mammoths lived on Wrangel Island only five thousand years ago - during the era of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.