The Best Guide

39,000-year-old woolly mammoth on display in Japan

A 39,000-year-old baby female mammoth named "Yuka," trapped for centuries in Siberian ice, is now on display at a Japanese exhibition hall, NBC News reported Wednesday.

39,000-year-old woolly mammoth on display in Japan
This woolly mammoth is so well-preserved that scientists were able to extract her blood [Credit: UPI]
Discovered in May in the Siberian Islands, Yuka's fur, muscles and even blood were kept remarkably intact by the freezing temperatures.

Scientist Semyon Grigoriev, of the Siberian Mammoths Museum, called Yuka "the best-preserved mammoth in the history of paleontology."

"No one has ever seen before how the mammoth’s blood flows. The lower part of the body, including lower jaw, and tongue tissue, was preserved well," he said, according to the Mirror.

Researchers suspect that Yuka was a little over two years old when she was bogged down in a swamp and died. Yuka's fur, hooves and snout remain intact.

Author: Kate Stanton | Source: UPI [July 10, 2013]