Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice, Weds, 9pm, BBC2
Written by Paul Williams
For centuries, stories have been told of subterranean elephant-like animals called 'ice rats' that use their huge tusks to dig through the tundra of northeastern Siberia. They are never seen alive above ground but their movements underground are detected as earthquakes, and their fresh carcasses are occasionally discovered.
Written by Paul Williams
For centuries, stories have been told of subterranean elephant-like animals called 'ice rats' that use their huge tusks to dig through the tundra of northeastern Siberia. They are never seen alive above ground but their movements underground are detected as earthquakes, and their fresh carcasses are occasionally discovered.
Dr. Leopold von Schrenck, Chief of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petrograd, published the following account in 1869: "a gigantic beast which lives in the depths of the earth, where it digs for itself dark pathways, and feeds on earth . . . They account for its corpse being found so fresh and well preserved on the ground that the animal is still a living one."
The 'ice rats' are now better known as woolly mammoths. While our understanding of these creatures has changed, the hairy behemoths continue to fascinate us. The woolly mammoth is one of the most recognisable animals ever to have walked the planet. Weighing in at six tonnes, they lived alongside our ancestors, and their herds roamed across what is now Europe and Asia. Through an ever growing taste for mammoth meat, humans probably contributed to their demise.
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| Alice Roberts with Lyuba |
Woolly Mammoth Hall of Fame
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The 'Berezovka Mammoth' (1900)
Early mammoth research focussed on teeth and bones. The first woolly mammoth remains studied by European scientists were examined by Hans Sloane in 1728. He became the first to recognise that these monstrous remains were in fact from elephants. He believed they had been buried during the biblical Great Flood, and that prior to this Siberia had been a much warmer place. Others argued that they were elephants from the tropics that had been washed north by the flood. It wasn't until French scientist Georges Cuvier identified the remains in 1796, that the woolly mammoth was identified as a separate species.
One of Charles R Knights Mammoth paintings at the American Museum of Natural History (1935)
Mammoth teeth continue to reveal new evidence and Adrian Lister from London's Natural History Museum analyses them to understand the evolutionary journey that mammoths made from the African tropics to the remote arctic.
The Berezovka mammoth is probably the most studied of all mammoths and his discovery in 1900 led to the modern era of mammoth research. Complete with skin, muscles, and innards he had been wonderfully preserved by the permafrost for 45,000 years.
The 50 year old male is believed to have died after falling down a precipice. He was discovered in an upright position, with his back humped and his ribs and pelvis broken. Much of the head, which was sticking out of the permafrost bank had been eaten by wolves. Fortunately the lips, the lining of the mouth and the tongue were preserved, and surprisingly between the teeth, were portions of the animal's last meal. "The mouth was filled with grass, which had been cropped, but not chewed and swallowed, it still had the imprint of the animal's molars," indicating that he died suddenly whilst feeding. The plants were species that are no longer found as far north as Siberia, and indicates a much warmer climate 40,000 years ago supporting Hans Sloanes theory of climate change.
The food inside Berezovka's stomach was exceptionally well preserved and suggests that following his fatal fall, Berezovka must have rapidly frozen - either falling into a frozen lake, an ice crevasse, or being engulfed by a mudslide. Many mammoths, rhinos, horses, bison and antelope preserved in the same banks seem to have succumbed to a similar fate.
Mammoth Scene Investigation had been born.
The 50 year old male is believed to have died after falling down a precipice. He was discovered in an upright position, with his back humped and his ribs and pelvis broken. Much of the head, which was sticking out of the permafrost bank had been eaten by wolves. Fortunately the lips, the lining of the mouth and the tongue were preserved, and surprisingly between the teeth, were portions of the animal's last meal. "The mouth was filled with grass, which had been cropped, but not chewed and swallowed, it still had the imprint of the animal's molars," indicating that he died suddenly whilst feeding. The plants were species that are no longer found as far north as Siberia, and indicates a much warmer climate 40,000 years ago supporting Hans Sloanes theory of climate change.
The food inside Berezovka's stomach was exceptionally well preserved and suggests that following his fatal fall, Berezovka must have rapidly frozen - either falling into a frozen lake, an ice crevasse, or being engulfed by a mudslide. Many mammoths, rhinos, horses, bison and antelope preserved in the same banks seem to have succumbed to a similar fate.
Mammoth Scene Investigation had been born.
The Berezovka Mammoth on display at the St Petersburg Zoological Museum (Photo: Vladimir Gorodnjanski, 2007)
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Preserved muscle tissue taken from the left hind leg of the Berezovka mammoth, now at the Smithsonian. (Photo: Tom Jorstad, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History)
Dima - The 70's Mammoth (1977)
In 1977 workers digging up ground close to the Russian town of Magadan in north eastern Siberia uncovered a well-preserved carcass of a 6 month old baby mammoth. It was the first mammoth to be investigated using modern scientific methods. Radiocarbon dating determined that it had died about 40,000 years ago and it's internal organs were found to be similar to those of living elephants. Sediment in Dima's lungs pointed to death by asphyxiation.
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Dima being extracted from the Siberian permafrost in 1977 (source)
(Photo: Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Brussels)
Lyuba - The Love Mammoth (2007)
In 2007 Reindeer breeders in Russia's Arctic Yamal Peninsula discovered a perfectly preserved 42,000 year old baby mammoth. It was named Lyuba, meaning 'love' after the discoverer's wife. It soon triggered a flurry of speculation about whether it was possible to create a living mammoth by extracting its DNA. Lyuba is a female woolly mammoth calf who died at the age of one month and is generally considered to be the best preserved mammoth in the world. Lyuba is one of the stars in 'Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice'
“Lyuba is a creature straight out of a fairy tale. When you look at her, it’s hard to understand how she could have stayed in such good condition for nearly 40,000 years.”
- Alexei Tikhonov, Russian Academy of Science
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A Nenets boy tentatively examines Lyuba outside Shemanovsky Museum in Salekhard, Siberia. Some of his elders still hold to the Nenets tradition that touching a mammoth, a creature they believe roams the spirit underworld, will bring bad luck (Photo: Francis Latreille)
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A Nenets boy tentatively examines Lyuba outside Shemanovsky Museum in Salekhard, Siberia. Some of his elders still hold to the Nenets tradition that touching a mammoth, a creature they believe roams the spirit underworld, will bring bad luck (Photo: Francis Latreille)
(Image: Photoshot)
During an autopsy fecal matter was collected from Lyuba's intestine. The feces probably came from Lyuba's mother, fed to the calf to aid growth of bacteria needed to digest vegetation. The mother's feces will help identify plants she ate and may yield her DNA (Photo: Francis Latreille National Geographic - see more here)
Inspecting the baby mammoth carcass. Photo credit: Sergei Cherkashin/Reuters Source
The carcass began to thaw during an exam inside Shemanovsky Museum in Salekhard, Siberia. Members of the recovery team moved it outside to refreeze. (Photo: Francis Latreille National Geographic - see more here)
Lyuba on display after a CT scan in Tokyo (Photo: Francis Latreille National Geographic - see more here)
The latest technology including CT scanning is allowing scientists to take a non intrusive look inside these incredible specimens. Source
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The CT scan provided detailed new insights into a mammoth's anatomy as well as important clues to Lyuba's death. Sediment found blocking the trunk's nasal passages (shown in white) and in the mouth, esophagus, and windpipe suggests that she asphyxiated by inhaling mud after becoming trapped in a mire (Photo: Francis Latreille National Geographic - see more here)
