The world's most complete woolly mammoth has gone on display at the Natural History Museum in London.
Lyuba - whose name means "love" in Russian - was just one month old and just over four feet long when she died in the vast and frozen Russian wilderness 42,000 years ago.
She was discovered in Siberia in May 2007 by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons who were searching for wood along the Yuribei River. Lyuba is named after Yuri's wife.
The mammoth's body was so well preserved because it was buried in wet clay and mud, which froze, preventing oxygen from decomposing her remains.
Lyuba is one of a number of the animals to have been found close to the north-west Siberian river in recent years.
Members of the public at the museum in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will be able to see her pristinely preserved body as it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giants, which opened on Friday. It will run until 7 September.
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show.
At last! Lyuba, the world's most complete woolly mammoth will go on display at the Natural History Museum on Friday
Lyuba was discovered in Siberia in 2007 by a reindeer herder and his sons
Experts believe she was one month old when she died 42,000 years ago
The woolly mammoth measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long and will be the focus of the exhibition in London
The exhibition, which also includes skeletons, will run until 7 September
Lyuba's name means love in Russian
By Sarah Griffiths
20 May 2014
Daily Mail
Related article: Baby mammoth 'Lyuba' choked to death in mud hole 42,000 years ago | Mail Online
She was plucked from the Siberian permafrost where she has hidden for 42,000 years.
But the world's most complete mammoth will go on show at London’s Natural History Museum at the end of this week.
Lyuba the baby mammoth measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long – a little larger than a dog.
At last! The world's most complete mammoth will go on show at London's Natural History Museum at the end of this week. Here, the ancient animal is in her custom case being transported to the museum
She was discovered in Siberia, Russia in May 2007 by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons who were searching for wood along the Yuribei River some 42,000 years after the one-month-old mammoth died.
Lyuba is named after Yuri's wife and her name means love in Russian.
Her body was so well preserved because it was buried in wet clay and mud, which froze, preventing oxygen from decomposing her remains.
It's as if she is sleeping: The baby mammoth (pictured) was plucked from the Siberian permafrost where she has hidden for 42,000 years
The remains were found by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons, left, while they were gathering firewood. The body was then sent to the Shemanovsky Museum, right, in Russia to be examined (right)
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth (pictured) in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show
Lyuba is one of a number of the animals to have been found close to the north-west Siberian river in recent years.
Members of the public will be able to see her pristinely preserved body when it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giants, which opens on 23 May. It will run until 7 September.
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show.
Members of the public will be able to see Lyuba's pristinely preserved body before it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giant, which opens on 23 May. It will run until 7 September. A close-up of her eye area is pictured
Lyuba's body was preserved when it sank into mud which later froze. It has been buried for 40,000 years in a vacuum, which has meant that oxygen has not decomposed the remains
Lyuba the baby mammoth (pictured) measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long - a little larger than a dog
The little mammoth was discovered near the Yuribei River (marked) in Siberia, Russia in May 2007
The Yurebei River in northern Russia
Lyuba has previously been on show at the Shemanovsky Museum in Russia and at exhibitions in Chicago and Hong Kong before that.
Professor Adrian Lister, a mammoth researcher at the Natural History Museum, said: 'It's an honour to be showcasing the world's best preserved mammoth for the first time in western Europe.
'Lyuba is hugely important for helping us to understand the lives of ice age animals. This exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet this amazing creature from more than 40,000 years ago.'
The discovery of tragic Lyuba by Yuri Khudi and his sons, one of whom is pictured with the mammoth, was a complete accident
The discovery in 2007 caused excitement in the scientific community because of Lyuba's completeness. Here, scientists make observations in Siberia where the body was found
World leader: The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, is home to the largest and most important natural history collection in the world, with over 70 million specimens, ranging from microscopic slides to mammoth skeletons.
COULD WE ONE DAY CLONE A MAMMOTH?
Scientists said in March that they have taken a step towards cloning the extinct woolly mammoth and there is a 'high chance' it will happen.
Experts expect to extract ‘high quality DNA’ from a 43,000 year old carcass found in Siberia.
Woolly mammoths finally died out in eastern Siberia around 4,000 years ago.
Radik Khayrullin, vice president of the Russian Association of Medical Anthropologists, said: ‘The data we are about to receive will give us a high chance to clone the mammoth.’
But he called for responsibility in bringing the ancient beast back to life, urging that competing teams seeking to win a race to clone the mammoth, not to play God for the sake of it.
‘We must have a reason to do this, as it is one thing to clone it for scientific purpose and another to clone for the sake of curiosity,’ he said.
A cloning attempt would involve a female elephant – the closest living relative of the mammoth - acting as a surrogate mother.
Lyuba - whose name means "love" in Russian - was just one month old and just over four feet long when she died in the vast and frozen Russian wilderness 42,000 years ago.
She was discovered in Siberia in May 2007 by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons who were searching for wood along the Yuribei River. Lyuba is named after Yuri's wife.
The mammoth's body was so well preserved because it was buried in wet clay and mud, which froze, preventing oxygen from decomposing her remains.
Lyuba is one of a number of the animals to have been found close to the north-west Siberian river in recent years.
Members of the public at the museum in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will be able to see her pristinely preserved body as it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giants, which opened on Friday. It will run until 7 September.
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show.
At last! Lyuba, the world's most complete woolly mammoth will go on display at the Natural History Museum on Friday
Lyuba was discovered in Siberia in 2007 by a reindeer herder and his sons
Experts believe she was one month old when she died 42,000 years ago
The woolly mammoth measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long and will be the focus of the exhibition in London
The exhibition, which also includes skeletons, will run until 7 September
Lyuba's name means love in Russian
By Sarah Griffiths
20 May 2014
Daily Mail
Related article: Baby mammoth 'Lyuba' choked to death in mud hole 42,000 years ago | Mail Online
She was plucked from the Siberian permafrost where she has hidden for 42,000 years.
But the world's most complete mammoth will go on show at London’s Natural History Museum at the end of this week.
Lyuba the baby mammoth measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long – a little larger than a dog.
At last! The world's most complete mammoth will go on show at London's Natural History Museum at the end of this week. Here, the ancient animal is in her custom case being transported to the museum
She was discovered in Siberia, Russia in May 2007 by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons who were searching for wood along the Yuribei River some 42,000 years after the one-month-old mammoth died.
Lyuba is named after Yuri's wife and her name means love in Russian.
Her body was so well preserved because it was buried in wet clay and mud, which froze, preventing oxygen from decomposing her remains.
It's as if she is sleeping: The baby mammoth (pictured) was plucked from the Siberian permafrost where she has hidden for 42,000 years
The remains were found by reindeer herder Yuri Khudi and his sons, left, while they were gathering firewood. The body was then sent to the Shemanovsky Museum, right, in Russia to be examined (right)
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth (pictured) in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show
Lyuba is one of a number of the animals to have been found close to the north-west Siberian river in recent years.
Members of the public will be able to see her pristinely preserved body when it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giants, which opens on 23 May. It will run until 7 September.
The exhibition is the first opportunity for people to see the baby mammoth in Europe and it will also include realistic life-sized models and skeletons of mammoths and their relatives. Real tusks and teeth from the woolly giants will also go on show.
Members of the public will be able to see Lyuba's pristinely preserved body before it forms the centrepiece of an exhibition called Mammoths: Ice Age Giant, which opens on 23 May. It will run until 7 September. A close-up of her eye area is pictured
Lyuba's body was preserved when it sank into mud which later froze. It has been buried for 40,000 years in a vacuum, which has meant that oxygen has not decomposed the remains
Lyuba the baby mammoth (pictured) measures 33inches (85cm) tall and 51 inches (130cm) long - a little larger than a dog
The little mammoth was discovered near the Yuribei River (marked) in Siberia, Russia in May 2007
The Yurebei River in northern Russia
Lyuba has previously been on show at the Shemanovsky Museum in Russia and at exhibitions in Chicago and Hong Kong before that.
Professor Adrian Lister, a mammoth researcher at the Natural History Museum, said: 'It's an honour to be showcasing the world's best preserved mammoth for the first time in western Europe.
'Lyuba is hugely important for helping us to understand the lives of ice age animals. This exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet this amazing creature from more than 40,000 years ago.'
The discovery of tragic Lyuba by Yuri Khudi and his sons, one of whom is pictured with the mammoth, was a complete accident
The discovery in 2007 caused excitement in the scientific community because of Lyuba's completeness. Here, scientists make observations in Siberia where the body was found
World leader: The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, is home to the largest and most important natural history collection in the world, with over 70 million specimens, ranging from microscopic slides to mammoth skeletons.
COULD WE ONE DAY CLONE A MAMMOTH?
Scientists said in March that they have taken a step towards cloning the extinct woolly mammoth and there is a 'high chance' it will happen.
Experts expect to extract ‘high quality DNA’ from a 43,000 year old carcass found in Siberia.
Woolly mammoths finally died out in eastern Siberia around 4,000 years ago.
Radik Khayrullin, vice president of the Russian Association of Medical Anthropologists, said: ‘The data we are about to receive will give us a high chance to clone the mammoth.’
But he called for responsibility in bringing the ancient beast back to life, urging that competing teams seeking to win a race to clone the mammoth, not to play God for the sake of it.
‘We must have a reason to do this, as it is one thing to clone it for scientific purpose and another to clone for the sake of curiosity,’ he said.
A cloning attempt would involve a female elephant – the closest living relative of the mammoth - acting as a surrogate mother.
Last edited: