Mammoth carcass in Siberia could be of new species

London : The carcass of a pygmy woolly mammoth has been unearthed in Siberia – and could be evidence of a new species of ‘mini-mammoth’. The dead animal was discovered preserved in permafrost on Kotelny island and could be 50,00 years old, experts say. Dubbed ‘Golden mammoth’ because of the striking colouration of its fur, the diminutive stature of the dead animal has led some to believe it could be evidence of a never-before-seen ‘mini-mammoth’ species that lived during the last ice age.

The adult measures seven feet (2.1 metres) tall, less than half the hulking 16 feet (4.8 metres) height of a normal woolly mammoth. The pygmy’s sand-covered remains now lie embedded in undersea permafrost. The carcass is only visible at low tide on Russia’s Kotelny island, which is found between the Laptev and East Siberian seas.

Mammoth expert Dr Albert Protopopov, head of the department for the study of mammoth fauna, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), insists after examining the carcass that it is an adult not a baby and the specimen will be excavated from its inaccessible grave next summer. Dr Protopopov, head of mammoth fauna at the Academy of Sciences in the Siberian region of Yakutia, said: ‘Its hairs look golden in the sun.’ A stunning picture of the specimen shows that one tusk is fully intact, while the other has been broken or severed – with its ‘golden’ locks visible.