Warning: This article contains graphic photos. We recommend the discretion of the reader.
The stunning photograph shows a baby female mammoth from over 130,000 years ago, recently analyzed by Russian scientists.
The mammoth, known as “Yana,” was dissected on March 27th at the Northeast Federal University in Yaktsk, Russia. The baby mammoth was preserved in permafrost until it was dug into the cold Yakutia province of Yakutia last year.
Photos from the autopsy show a team of scientists leaning around a 397-pound animal. The creature’s mouth was open and her trunk was curled as the scientist opened her skin.
Scientists initially believed that Jana lived 50,000 years ago, but the estimates have been updated more than 130,000 years since scientists analyzed the permafrost layer she was found.
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On March 27, 2025, you can watch a live broadcast of a scientist necrotic 50,000-year-old baby mammoth called “Yana.” (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Maxim Cherpasov, director of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Institute, told Reuters last year that the mammoth had only been over a year when it passed away. The body had already been partially eaten by predators when she was found.
“As a rule, the first part that thaws, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators and birds,” Sherpasov told Reuters.
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Scientists will perform an autopsy on a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth called “yana” at the Northeast Federal University of Yakutsk on March 27, 2025. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
“For example, here the forelimbs are already eaten, but the head is very well preserved.”
The discovery of well-preserved mammoths is extremely rare, but not unheard of for other mammoths. In June 2024, a fisherman discovered mammoth bones on the banks of the Mule River in Ksiniknis near Gudou, Poland.
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Scientists will perform an autopsy on a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth called “yana” at the Northeast Federal University of Yakutsk on March 27, 2025. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
In August of the same year, a fossil collector discovered some of the Columbian mammoth tusks on a bank in Madison County, Mississippi.
Reuters contributed to this report.
