Photos show well-preserved remains of a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in Siberia

Researchers in Russia on Monday unveiled the remarkably well-preserved remains of a 50,000-year-old female baby Mammoth found in thawing permafrost in the Yakutia region of Siberia.

The remains of the mammoth – nicknamed “Yana” after the river in whose basin it was discovered this summer – are the best-preserved mammoth carcass in the world. Experts said it was one of only seven whole remains ever found.

It is estimated that Yana was only about a year old when she died, weighed more than 397 pounds and was about 4 feet, 200 centimeters long.

“We were all surprised exceptional preservation of the mammoth,” said Anatoly Nikolayev, rector of the Northeast Federal University, where the carcass is on display.

The mammoth, which resembles a small elephant with a trunk, was found near the Batagaika research station, where remains of other prehistoric animals – a horse, a bison and a lemming – were also found.

Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory in the city of Yakutsk, told Reuters that the fact that the animal’s head and torso survived was particularly unusual.

“As a rule, the part that thaws first, especially the body, is often eaten by modern predators or birds. Here, for example, the head is remarkably well preserved, even though the forelegs have already been eaten,” said Cherpasov.

Before this discovery, only six mammoth carcasses had been found worldwide – five in Russia and one in Canadasaid the university.

Yakutia is a remote region on the Arctic Ocean. Its permafrost acts like a giant freezer, preserving the remains of prehistoric animals.