PRESERVED 100,000 YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13727, 18 April 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

PRESERVED 100,000 YEARS.

EXPEDITION TO SEEK REMAINS 0? A MAMMOTH. The Academy of Science at St. Petersburg has just despatched a well-equipped expedition to the valley of Santauriakh, in ? Northern Siberia, in order to excavate the remains of the mammoth which hae been ■ discovered 200 miles from the village of ; ; Kasachia. The cranium and part of the V right foreleg were""*exposed through the ' action of water, and hair-covered flesh was found adhering to the bones. The Arctic foxes had actually begun to eat it, and water has now been poured over the exposed remains so as to form a protective coating of ice. The scene of the discovery is so remote J that the journey there will occupy the expedition two months. The remains will be transported by some 50 sleighs, drawn by reindeer, to the river Lena, and th« J final stage of the journey—from Irkutsk to M St. Petersburgwill be completed by train. Russian scientists attach the greater § value to the discovery inasmuch as the mammoth now exhibited in the Zoological Museum at St. Petersburg is known not to - have reached full development. It i« estimated to have attained only 25 years. These mammoths are believed to hata lived about ICO.COO years ago. The remain* of the first one discovered were in such an excellent state of preservation that some of the remnants of flesh, after being thawed, salted, and cooked, were actually eaten out of curiosity by some Russian scien- ; tistfi.. '" : ?. : 0M ••"■".•■•.Xjfaj