Woolly mammoths are believed to have died about 10,000 years ago, although scientists believe that small groups of them may have lived longer in Alaska and on the Russian island of Wrangel off the Siberian coast.
As well; A few days ago, reindeer herders in northern Siberia found fragments of a woolly mammoth skeleton in the shallow waters of Lake Pechevalavato in the Yamalo-Nenets region. Specifically, they found part of the animal’s skull, the lower jaw, several ribs and a foot fragment with the tendons still intact.
How is such extraordinary conservation possible, for an animal that died ten thousand years ago? The answer is in the permafrost. As the Physics doctor Mar Gómez (@MarGomezH) explains on her Twitter account, “this finding has occurred due to the melting of the permafrost where this animal had been trapped and frozen for thousands of years. The high temperatures due to climate change are accelerating their melting and that of the polar shells ”.
“Permafrost is the permanently frozen layer of land that is found under our feet in some regions of the planet,” he clarifies.
Remember that Siberia is experiencing a heat wave ; The UN meteorological agency warned last Friday, July 31, that temperatures were 10 ºC above the average for last month.
Russian scientists are now working to recover the well-preserved skeleton. These days they have recovered more bones and have also located more massive fragments. According to his statements, it will still take a long time and special equipment to recover the rest of the skeleton.
Although several well-preserved frozen mammoth carcasses have been found in the permafrost of northern Siberia, according to Yevgeniya Khozyainova of the Shemanovsky Institute in Salekhard, finding a complete mammoth skeleton is “relatively rare.” Such findings will allow scientists to deepen their understanding of mammoths.
Also, other interesting archaeological finds have been produced in this area lately. As Dr. Gómez explains, “Russian scientists have found mammoth fossils dating back 30,000 years in that area.” Furthermore, “researchers have identified a 42,000-year-old foal with no signs of external damage, a 32,000-year-old wolf’s head, and an extinct cave lion cub, among others.”
The thawing of permafrost, while it has led to exciting discoveries like this one, is by no means good news. As Dr. Physics explains, “the melting of permafrost could produce the release of high amounts of methane into the atmosphere (a powerful greenhouse gas) due to the decomposing organic matter trapped in it. When released, climate change would accelerate more ”.
