Mummified woolly mammoth calf discovered by gold miners in Yukon
Posted Jun 25, 2022 2:11 pm.
A mummified baby wooly mammoth has been found in the Klondike gold fields, the Yukon government announced Friday.
It said the animal found withinTr’ondëk Hwëch’in Traditional Territory earlier this week is the most complete and best-preserved mammoth found in North America to date.
The territory said miners working on Eureka Creek uncovered the animal while excavating permafrost on Tuesday.
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Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey and the University of Calgary who recovered the mammoth suggest it died and was frozen during the ice age, more than 30,000 years ago.
Ice age paleontologist Grant Zazula said it has been his lifelong dream to “come face to face with a real wooly mammoth” and he is excited to find out more about the animal.
“The discovery of a mummified baby animal is something totally unprecedented.
Mummified remains of Ice Age animals are incredibly rare in the world,” he said in an interview Friday.
