Making incisions and carefully taking samples, the scientists at a laboratory in Russia’s far east resembled pathologists conducting a post-mortem examination.
However, the body they were dissecting was that of a baby mammoth that died approximately 130,000 years ago.
Discovered last year, the calf — nicknamed Yana after the river basin where she was found — exhibits remarkable preservation. This offers scientists a glimpse into the past and, potentially, the future as climate change thaws the permafrost in which she was encased.
Yana’s skin has retained its greyish-brown hue and clumps of reddish hairs. Her wrinkled trunk is curved, pointing towards her mouth. The orbits of her eyes are perfectly discernible, and her sturdy legs bear a resemblance to those of a modern-day elephant.
This necropsy — an autopsy performed on an animal — “is an opportunity to look into the past of our planet,” stated Artemy Goncharov, head of the Laboratory of Functional Genomics and Proteomics of Microorganisms at the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Saint Petersburg.
Scientists hope to discover unique ancient bacteria and conduct genetic analysis of the plants and spores Yana consumed to gain further insights into the place and time she inhabited.
The calf largely escaped the ravages of time due to being encased in permafrost in the Sakha region of Siberia for millennia.
Measuring 1.2 meters (nearly four feet) at the shoulder and two meters in length, and weighing 180 kilograms (nearly 400 pounds), Yana could be the best-preserved mammoth specimen ever discovered, retaining internal organs and soft tissues, according to the Russian scientists.
Stomach, Intestines
Dissecting her body is proving to be a treasure trove for the half-dozen scientists who conducted the necropsy in late March at the Mammoth Museum at North-Eastern Federal University in the regional capital, Yakutsk.
Wearing white sterile bodysuits, goggles, and facemasks, the zoologists and biologists spent several hours examining the front quarters of the mammoth, a species that went extinct nearly 4,000 years ago.
“We can see that many organs and tissues are very well preserved,” Goncharov noted.
“The digestive tract is partly preserved; the stomach is preserved. There are still fragments of the intestines, in particular the colon,” enabling scientists to collect samples, he explained.
They are “searching for ancient microorganisms” preserved within the mammoth, so they can study their “evolutionary relationship with modern microorganisms,” he said.
While one scientist used scissors to cut Yana’s skin, another made an incision in the inner wall with a scalpel. They then placed tissue samples in test tubes and bags for analysis.
Another table held the mammoth’s hindquarters, which remained embedded in a cliff when the front quarters detached.
The mammoth’s scent was reminiscent of a mixture of fermented earth and flesh macerated in the Siberian subsoil.
“We are trying to reach the genitals,” said Artyom Nedoluzhko, director of the Paleogenomics Laboratory of the European University at Saint Petersburg.
He stated that their aim is “to gather material to understand what microbiota lived in her when she was alive.”
‘Milk Tusks’
Yana was initially estimated to have died around 50,000 years ago but has now been dated to “more than 130,000 years” following analysis of the permafrost layer where she was found, said Maxim Cheprasov, director of the Mammoth Museum.
Regarding her age at death, “it’s already clear that she is over a year old because her milk tusks have already appeared,” he added.
Both elephants and mammoths possess early milk tusks that are later shed.
Scientists have yet to determine the cause of Yana’s premature death.
At the time when this herbivorous mammal was grazing, “here on the territory of Yakutia there were not yet any humans,” Cheprasov explained, as they appeared in modern-day Siberia between 28,000 and 32,000 years ago.
The secret to Yana’s exceptional preservation lies in the permafrost: the soil in this Siberian region that remains frozen year-round and acts as a colossal freezer, preserving the carcasses of prehistoric animals.
The discovery of Yana’s exposed body occurred due to the thawing of permafrost, which scientists attribute to global warming.
The study of the microbiology of such ancient remains also explores the “biological risks” associated with global warming, Goncharov stated.
Some scientists are investigating whether the melting permafrost could release potentially harmful pathogens, he elaborated.
“There are some hypotheses or conjectures that in the permafrost there could be preserved pathogenic microorganisms, which when it thaws can get into the water, plants and the bodies of animals — and humans,” he said.
