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An entire mummified baby mammoth over 30,000 years old was accidentally discovered by a gold miner in the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin area of the Yukon Territory, Canada. According to the local government press release, this is the most complete mummified mammoth ever discovered in North America.
The female mammoth baby was named Nun cho ga by the Indigenous People of the First Nation Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, which translates as “big baby animal” in the Hän language. According to scientists, the animal died and froze in permanent frost during the ice age.
(Yukon Government)
Dr. Grant Zazula, a Yukon government paleontologist, said the gold miner had made “the most important discovery in paleontology in North America”.
Professor Dan Sugar of the University of Calgary, a member of the team that excavated the hairy mammoth, said the animal’s nails, skin, hair, trunk and even intestines were perfectly preserved.
According to the press release, the Yukon is famous for its stock of glacier-era fossils, but such flawless and well-preserved finds are seldom discovered.
“As an ice age paleontologist, it was one of the dreams of my life to come face to face with a real-haired mammoth,” Zazula said.
“It simply came to our notice then. “Nun cho ga is beautiful and one of the most incredible mummified animals of the ice age ever discovered in the world.”
The hairy mammoth roamed the earth until about 4,000 years ago. It coexisted with prehistoric people, who hunted it for food, using its bones and tusks to make works of art, tools and homes. Scientists are divided over whether hunting or climate change has led to their extinction.
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Source in Greek https://zantetimes.gr/
