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The specimen was found while a miner was excavating in the permafrost.
A mummified woolly mammoth calf, which died more than 30,000 years ago, was found on June 21 in a gold mining field in the Klondike region, Yukon Territory, Canada, they reported in a communiqué local authorities.
Wow! This is the most complete mummified woolly mammoth ever found in North America. The preservation of this calf is remarkable! 🦣
The discovery has just been announced today.
It was found on June 21, 2021 in the Klondike gold fields, Yukon, Canada.
📸 by Willem Middelkoop. pic.twitter.com/McsFVK0Bep
— Dr Dean Lomax (@Dean_R_Lomax) June 24, 2022
The mammoth was found while a miner was digging in the permafrost in the territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in indigenous community. The calf was named Nun Cho ga, which means “big little animal.” It is the first mummy of this mammoth species “almost complete and best preserved” which is located in North America.
Being part of the recovery of Nun cho ga, the baby woolly mammoth found in the permafrost in the Klondike this week (on Solstice and Indigenous Peoples’ Day!), was the most exciting scientific thing I have ever been part of, bar none. https://t.co/WnGoSo8hPk pic.twitter.com/JLD0isNk8Y
— Prof Dan Shugar (@WaterSHEDLab) June 24, 2022
The analysis initial of the body of the animal indicates that it is a female similar in size to that of the female woolly mammoth Lyuba, discovered in Siberia (Russia) in 2007 and dating back about 42,000 years.
“As a paleontologist from the ice age, one of my life’s dreams has been to come face to face with a real woolly mammoth. That dream has come true today. Nun cho ga is gorgeous and one of the most amazing mummified animals never discovered in the world “, commented the researcher Grant Zazula.
Circumstances of death
According to estimates is from the expert, the specimen died when it was about 30 or 35 days old. The geology of the discovery site indicates that the mammoth died approximately 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, details CBC News.
The geologists, who went to the scene after the news of the find and took the body to examine it, observed a part of the intestine of the animal with grass . Based on this, Zazula pointed out that the calf could have been close to her mother, but she moved away to eat and drink, getting stuck in the mud.
