MEAL OF FROZEN MAMMOTH

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9135, 2 May 1908, Page 6

MEAL OF FROZEN MAMMOTH

The Academy of Science at St* Petersburg is reported to have last month despatched a well-equipped expedition to the valley of Santauriakh, in Northern Siberia, in order to exaaavate the remains of the mammoth which has been discovered about 200 miles from ; the village of Kasachia. The cranium and part of the right forelegs were exposed through the action of water, and hair-covered flesh was found adhering to the bones. The Arctic foxes had actually begun to eat it, and water has now been poured over the exposed remains so as to form a protective coating of ice. The scene of the discovery is so remote that the journey there will occupy two months. The remains will be transported by some 50 sleighs, drawn by reindeer, to the River Lena, and the final stages of the journey, from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg, will be completed by train. Russian scientists attach the greater value to the discovery, inasmuch as the mammoth now exhibited in the Zoological Museum at St. Petersburg is known not to have reached full development. It is estimated to have attained only 25 years. These mammoths are believed to have lived about 100,000 years ago. The remains of the first one discovered were in such au excellent state of preservation that some of the remnants of flesh, after being thawed, salted, and cooked, were actually eaten out of curiosity by some Russian scientists.