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Sopkarga mammoth
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The Sopkarga mammoth, alternately spelled Sopkarginsky mammoth, and informally called Zhenya, after the nickname of its discoverer, is a woolly mammoth carcass found in October 2012. It was discovered 3 kilometres (2 mi)[3] away from the Sopkarga polar weather station[4] on the Taymyr Peninsula in Russia. The Moscow News refers to it as the best preserved mammoth find in the past 100 years.[3]
The remains are those of a male, aged 15 to 16 years,[4] who died c. 48,000 years ago.[1] They weigh over 500 kilograms (1,100 lb), comprising the right half of the body including soft tissue, skin and hair, the skull with one ear, a tusk, bones and reproductive organs.[3]
This find is the best-preserved of its kind since another mammoth was unearthed in 1901 near the Beryozovka River in Yakutia.[3] This makes Zhenya the second-best preserved mammoth ever found.[4]
Over the course of a week, the frozen carcass was extracted using steam, axes, and picks. It was then transported by helicopter to Dudinka, the capital of Taymyr, and placed in an ice chamber.[3]
Zhenya's hump appears to be composed of fat, similar to a camel's hump.[3]
The remains were found by 11-year-old Yevgeny Salinder who lives near the station. His nickname is "Zhenya".[3][4]
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