gofuserectus

Boy discovers rare, nearly intact woolly mammoth


Scientists looking at a nearly intact mammoth carcass say the woolly beast may have been killed by an ice-age human.

Alexei Tikhonov of the St. Petersburg Zoology Institute told the Associated Press that the mammoth found in Siberiaone of the best preserved carcasses ever foundcould have been "possibly" killed by a human or a rival mammoth.

The remarkable discovery was made last month by an 11-year-old Russian boy. While exploring the area around his home, the youngster uncovered a tusk, bones, fur and flesh of a creature that is estimated to be 30,000 years old, the Daily Mail reports.

The boy, Yevgeny Salinder, according to ABC News, found the remains in permafrost in Taymyr, located in Russia's northernmost region.

The mammoth is informally named Zhenya, after the boy's nickname. Its official name is the Sopkarginsky mammoth, according to ABC News.

The 16-year-old mammoth was 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 1,100 pounds, Tikhonov told AP. While the mammoth is nearly intact, its DNA is damaged and "hardly" suitable for cloning.

Tikhonov told the Daily Mail the last time such a well-preserved mammoth was found in Russia was in 1901.


The carcass will become an exhibit at the Taymyr Regional Studies Museum in Russia.