Wednesday, April 11, 2012

42,000-year-old mammoth baby

Lyuba, the 1-month old baby mammoth of the Ice Age, died 42,000 years ago and was preserved in the ice. She was found by a reindeer herder in Siberia in 2007. By far, she is the best preserved mammoth mummy in the world. Lyuba is on an Asian tour now and will be exhibited in Hong Kong from April 12 to May 10.Although her fur and toenails have disintegrated, her skin and internal organs are intact. Apparently, there were traces of her mother’s milk in her stomach. Scientists hope to gain insight into what caused Ice Age mammals, including the mammoths, to become extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era around 10,000 years ago.



The carcass of a well-preserved baby mammoth, named Lyuba, is seen during a media preview in Hong Kong April 10, 2012. Lyuba, whose carcass is 40,000 years old, was found by a reindeer herder in Yamal Peninsula in Russia in 2007. She will be exhibited at IFC Mall in Hong Kong on April 12.

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