The preserved remains of a juvenile mammoth have been discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years.
The creature was recovered by scientists from the Batagaika crater in Russia, a huge depression more than 80m (260ft) deep that is widening as a result of climate change.
The carcass, weighing more than 110kg (240lb), was brought to the surface on an improvised stretcher, according to Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory in the city of Yakutsk.
He said the mammoth was probably a little over a year old when it died, but tests would enable the scientists to confirm this more accurately.
The fact that its head and trunk had survived was particularly unusual.
“As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds,” Mr Cherpasov said.
Pic: Reuters/Roman Kutukov
“Here, for example, even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved.”
It is the latest of a series of spectacular discoveries in the Russian permafrost.
Last month, scientists in the same vast northeastern region – known as Sakha or Yakutia – showed off the 32,000-year-old remains of a tiny sabre-toothed cat cub.
And earlier this year a 44,000-year-old wolf carcass was uncovered.
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