Mummified baby mammoth found almost perfectly preserved in Canada

Danny Jones

A truly incredible find

In an incredible natural history discovery, a mummified baby mammoth has been unearthed in Canada almost perfectly preserved in ice.

According to the Yukon government, the frozen carcass of the infant woolly mammoth was found by a miner within the Treadstone Mine of the Klondike gold fields in Yukon, Canada on June 21, during a routine excavation.

While the Yukon already boats an incredible fossil record, especially when it comes to ice age animals specifically, this particular find has blown away local officials, palaeontologists and peers throughout the scientific world due to just how well-preserved it is.

The mummified remains dubbed ‘Nun cho ga’ – i.e. what the indigenous First Nation people call the “big baby animal” – was found with its skin and hair almost entirely intact – aspects which are rarely found when it comes to these discoveries.

A joint discovery with the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin( the local First Nation government in the Canadian territory) and the Yukon government, the incredible piece of the past was found by a young, unsuspecting miner who immediately alerted his boss.

Dr Grant Zazula, the Yukon government’s palaeontologist, told CBC News, “I don’t know how to process it all right now, to be honest with you. It’s amazing”, before going on to note the various features still intact and remarking: “She’s perfect and she’s beautiful.”

An initial examination found the animal to be female and roughly the same size as another 42,000-year-old mummified baby mammoth named ‘Lyuba’ discovered in Siberia in 2007, the level of mummification was noted by many. Native Elder Peggy Kormendy said, “It took [her] breath away when they removed the tarp.

We must all treat it with respect. When that happens, it is going to be powerful and we will heal. We must as a people.”

As for as we know, this is the second time this year that woolly mammoth remains leftover from the ice age have been found, as back in February tusks and bones from the like woolly rhinoceros, wolf and hyena, dating anywhere between 30,000-60,000 years old were found at a cave in Devon.