The body of the world’s most well-preserved baby mammoth has been unveiled at an exhibition in Hong Kong ahead of a grand tour of Asia.
The 3ft beast, named Lyuba, was found in Siberian mountains by a reindeer herder five years ago and is thought to have drowned 40,000 years ago when she was just a month old.
Now her carcass will travel in sub-zero temperatures – in a bid to preserve her – to China, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.
That’s a wrap: The carcass of the mammoth has preserving film removed from her in a specially chilled room
The public will be allowed to glimpse at her body in a specially chilled room at the IFC Mall in Hong Kong from Thursday.
It is not yet known how long the tour will last – and is likely to depend on demand for viewings.
Discovered in 2007, she is thought to have died in a mudslide at a month old.
The mud effectively ‘pickled’ the baby, who has been named Lyuba, preserving her in a nearly pristine state.
‘She was doing great, very healthy. She just had this terrible misfortune,’ said palaeontologist Dan Fisher, of the University of Michigan, who is part of the international team researching the find.
