More than 40,000 years ago, the baby mammoth above roamed what is now Russia's Arctic Yamalo-Nenetsk region. The baby mammoth, found frozen in the ice, is believed to be a female, about six months, and is the most perfect specimen yet found of the long extinct beasts. Numerous varieties of mammoth roamed the world through the last Ice Age - up to 1.8 million years ago. They are believed to have become extinct more than 11,000 years ago.
From National Geographic :
At 110 pounds (50 kilograms) and 51 inches long (130 centimeters long), the baby is the size of a large dog, Reuters reported.
Scientists are banking on the female—named "Lyuba" after the Russian hunter's wife—to reveal some of the genetic secrets of the prehistoric giants.
That's because Lyuda's excellent state—intact except for her shaggy locks—makes her a veritable treasure trove for research.
Emerging DNA technologies have already allowed some scientists to consider resurrecting the mammoth.
More on the history of the mammoth :
Mammoths first appeared in Africa about four million years ago, then migrated north and dispersed widely across Europe and Asia.
At first a fairly generalized elephant species, mammoths evolved into several specialized species adapted to their environments. The hardy woolly mammoths, for instance, thrived in the cold of Ice Age Siberia.
In carvings and cave paintings, Ice Age humans immortalized the giant beasts, which stood about 11 feet (3.4 meters) tall at the shoulder and weighed about seven tons.
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