10,000-year-old mammoth tusk found

A group of oil workers in Russia stumbled upon tusks and bone fragments of a mammoth, estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.

Tusks and some mammoth bone fragments were found in Russia. Photo: Siberian Times

A group of oil workers stumbled upon the mammoth tracks while working in an area about 50 kilometers from the town of Nyagan, in Russia’s Khanty-Mansi region. They began digging with shovels and discovered two tusks, a tibia, ribs and some tooth fragments at a depth of three meters.

According to fossil museum expert Anton Rezvy, this was a female elephant, died at about 30-40 years old and lived at least 10,000 years ago.

"We can send this discovery for radiocarbon testing. Genetic analysis will help determine whether this mammoth came from Europe or North America," Rezvy was quoted as saying by the Siberian Times on March 30.

Sputnik news agency said that experts plan to study the reasons for the disappearance of mammoths in this area and find out their origin. Meanwhile, the group of oil workers is choosing a name for the mammoth.

Scientists believe that mammoths became extinct more than 10,000 years ago, but some elephants lived as late as 1,650 BC.

According to VnExpress