In 2007, Russian scientists made an incredible discovery. In the Artic, they stumbled across the little body of a month-old baby mammoth that had been buried in mud and preserved for over 40,000 years. Her skin and hair are still intact. Her bones and organs? Still intact. Little Lyuba is quite possibly the most well-preserved artifact ever discovered, and the National Geographic Channel is airing a special on her life and what she might teach us about the mass extinctions at the end of the Ice Age.
It’s just a shame we can’t get a mammoth’s eye view of the prehistoric world. However, Lyuba’s incredibly well-preserved body will provide a lot of great information about what mammoths ate and how they lived. If you get the National Geographic Channel, the special airs Sunday April 26 at 9 PM.
It’s only a matter of time before someone either A) tries to clone a woolly mammoth or B) finds an intact dinosaur with skin and organs. Then we’d be one step closer to Jurassic Park becoming a documentary rather than a fictional movie, and that’s either awesome or terrifying (or both).
Tags: national geographic channel, Lyuba the mammoth, baby mammoth preserved, 40, 000-year-old mammoth, Waking the Baby Mammoth, extinct animals, nature, ancient species