Mummified Baby Mammoth Unearthed With Skin, Hair, Tusks All Intact
Image via Government of Yukon
On June 21, 30,000 years after a baby woolly mammoth walked the earth, gold miners stumbled upon the mummified remains of the ice-age creature in Yukon territory. It didn’t seem like too much time had passed, as the calf’s hair, skin, trunk, toenails, and intestines were all miraculously preserved.
Miners were out at work at the Klondike gold fields on Tr’ondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory when they uncovered the baby, eternalized in a fetal position and wrapped in mud.
Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey and the University of Calgary recovered the remains and deduced that the mammoth was a female and died after being frozen in permafrost.
'She’s perfect and she's beautiful,' said Yukon government palaeontologist Dr Grant Zazula of Nun cho ga, the first whole baby woolly mammoth found in North America #IceAgeAmerica
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) June 25, 2022
📷 Government of Yukon https://t.co/q6zHMtqmop pic.twitter.com/PosxZcEA8m
It is believed that the creature, named Nun cho ga (meaning “big baby animal”) by the territory’s Elders, is the most complete woolly mammoth to have been recovered in North America.
Nun cho ga likely walked alongside “wild horses, cave lions, and giant steppe bison” when she was alive, the Yukon government details in a press release.
“There will be one thing that stands out in a person’s entire life and I can guarantee you this is my one thing,” says Brian McCaughan of Treadstone Mining, who was involved in the recovery.
BREAKING! Beautifully preserved baby woolly mammoth found by gold miner in the Klondike permafrost https://t.co/I57tUAtrnq #IceAge #FossilFriday pic.twitter.com/2jGP8Gp6zG
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) June 24, 2022
The most incredible thing about Nun cho ga is the preservation…toe nails, hide intact, hair, trunk, intestines… pic.twitter.com/A8sY0ztsNF
— Prof Dan Shugar (@WaterSHEDLab) June 24, 2022
[via NPR and LiveScience, cover image via Government of Yukon]
