The world’s ‘best preserved’ baby woolly mammoth is found in the ‘Mouth of Hell’ after 50,000 years

The world’s ‘best preserved’ baby woolly mammoth has been found in a Siberian crater known as the Mouth of Hell.

The mammoth, named Yana, lived to be more than 50,000 years old and apparently suffered a fatal injury to her back during the Ice Age. She was about a year old when she was murdered.

Yana was preserved in the permafrost in the Batagai megaslump, a rapidly expanding thermokarst depression in the Yakutia region of Russia, which is visible from space and also known as the Gateway to the Underworld.

Of the seven baby woolly mammoths found in the world (six of which are in Russia), Yana is the most intact, with her trunk clearly visible and “uniquely preserved.”

The ‘incredible’ remains were found this summer, but have only now been revealed by Russian scientists. The mammoth was four feet tall at the withers, weighing about 180 kg, or almost 400 pounds.

The extinct animal’s limbs had been pecked out by ancient sparrows or small mammals, but all organs remained intact.

Yana was preserved in the permafrost in the Batagai megaslump (photo in June 2023) – a rapidly growing thermokarst depression in the Yakutia region of Russia. The giant hole in the shape of a tadpole is 100 meters deep, about 1000 meters long and 700 meters wide.

Yana lived to be over 50,000 years old and apparently suffered a fatal injury to her back during the Ice Age. Pictured is an artist’s impression of a woolly mammoth

Maxim Cheprasov, head of the laboratory of the Mammoth Museum, North Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, said: ‘The research showed that the head is uniquely preserved, as are all organs.

‘This is very good. The torso, lips, ears and eye sockets have been preserved – they were not eaten by predators.

‘We have already noticed that the limbs have been eaten, possibly by sparrows or small mammals, but the torso and other parts of the head have been uniquely preserved.

“Unfortunately the back was damaged, apparently he fell on his back.”

Locals who examined the crater “saw that more than half of the baby mammoth had already melted from the wall of this sinkhole.”

The back of the animal was recovered separately and has also been preserved, but was not shown when the find was unveiled.

Major tests will be conducted on the baby mammoth next year.

Researchers Gavril Novgorodov and Erel Struchkov pose for a photo next to the carcass of a baby mammoth, estimated to be more than 50,000 years old and found on June 13, 2024, in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in Yakutia, Russia.

Of the seven baby woolly mammoths found in the world – six in Russia – Yana (pictured after being found in the Batagaika crater on June 13, 2024) is the most intact, with her trunk clearly visible and ‘uniquely preserved’

Yana’s remains were found in June 2024 (pictured), but have only now been revealed by Russian scientists. The mammoth was 4 feet tall at the withers, weighing about 180 kg – or 28 stone, or almost 400 pounds

Research has found that Yana’s head is ‘uniquely preserved, as are all organs’, experts have revealed

Maxim Cheprasov, head of the laboratory of the Mammoth Museum, North Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, said that Yana’s “torso, lips, ears and eye sockets were preserved – they were not eaten by predators”

Researchers stand behind a glass fence as they display the carcass of a baby mammoth, estimated to be more than 50,000 years old and found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of Yakutia, during a demonstration in the laboratory of the Mammoth Museum at the Northeastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Russia on December 23, 2024

The tadpole-shaped giant hole – also called Batagaika – is 100 meters deep and about 1,000 meters long, with a width of 2,650 meters.

Estimates suggest the crater emits up to 5,000 tons of organic carbon per year, with potential for increased emissions as thawing of the permafrost continues.

Yana is the latest in a series of spectacular discoveries in the Russian permafrost.

Scientists have also found a perfectly preserved prehistoric baby horse in the depression. The foal – some 42,170 years old – was from the cold-resistant Lenskaya species, which is now extinct.

Last month, researchers in the same vast northeastern region – known as Sakha or Yakutia – displayed the 32,000-year-old remains of a small sabre-toothed cat cub, while earlier this year a 44,000-year-old wolf carcass was uncovered.

The back of the animal was recovered separately and has also been preserved, but was not shown when the find was unveiled. Major tests will be conducted on Yana (photo) next year.

The carcass of Yana, pictured, was excavated near the Batagaika research station, where the remains of other prehistoric animals – a horse, a bison and a lemming – have also been found.

Yana’s limbs were eaten, possibly by sparrows or small mammals, but the torso and other parts of the head are uniquely preserved, researchers say