Gold diggers have found partial skeletons of woolly mammoths in the Yukon. The find was hiding in the Little Flake Mine, near Dawson City.
Canada – Gold miners in Canada * have made a “super exciting” discovery that poses many questions to researchers, Grant Zazula, chief paleontologist for the Yukon government, told the local newspaper The Whitehorse Star. The find consists of several skeletal parts of woolly mammoths. The animals could have belonged to the same family or herd, according to Zazula.
“We have all this material now, and now it’s basically a detective story to find out what was going on,” Zalula told The Whitehorse Star. Of course, the questions now want to be answered. How did the animals die and were they related?
Fascinating find: mammoths lived in the Ice Age
About 10,000 years ago, most of the mammoths became extinct, they are the symbol of the Ice Age (hna.de reported *) in which they lived and were widespread in North America * and Eurasia. Asian elephants * are the closest relatives that are still alive now. However, compared to the elephants, the woolly mammoths had a kind of thick fur in order to survive in the cold season. The Yukon was probably well suited for the mammoths due to its climate, because the drought did not form any glaciers.
Not the first mammoth bones found in the Yukon
Gold diggers’ tusks and mammoth bones have been found since the Klondike Gold Rush, more than a century ago. * “Miners have to remove all of this frozen silt to get to the gold-filled gravel in the valley floors, and when they do, cover they often find the remains of Ice Age animals, ”Zalula tells Live Science.
The special thing about this case is that the bones were still in good shape and several bones were found in the same place. Individual bones are found more often. According to Zalula, the bones could even belong to four or five mammoths.
According to the narrow decker, Trey Charlie, it was “probably one of the best days I’ve worked. These things are so much fun discovering. “The miner told CBC News,” I’ve been plucking bones all day. Ribs, teeth, everything. “
The location of the bones is known from a reality TV show
The bones were found in the Little Flake Mine. This is located near Dawson City. The reality TV show “Gold Rush” has already been shot there. The expression even belongs to the protagonist of the show, Parker Schnabel.
More pieces could be found if work resumes there in a couple of weeks. The parts found are now with the Yukon government for research. * hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
