Yukon, Canada, miners find 30,000-year-old mummified baby woolly mammoth
Mammoth's remains believed to be frozen during ice age
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A mummified baby woolly mammoth more than 30,000 years old has been found in Canada in what authorities are hailing as the "most complete" discovery of its kind.
The remains of the female calf, named "Nun cho ga" in the Hän language – which translates to big baby animal – was found by miners on June 21 in the Klondike gold fields within Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory, according to the government of Yukon.
"The Yukon has a world-renowned fossil record of ice age animals, but mummified remains with skin and hair are rarely unearthed," it said in a statement. "Nun cho ga is the most complete mummified mammoth found in North America."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The newly-uncovered mammoth is approximately the same size as Lyuba, the 42,000-year-old infant mummy woolly mammoth found in Siberia in 2007, officials said.
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The discovery on June 21 is being hailed by the government of Yukon as the "most complete mummified mammoth found in North America." (Government of Yukon)
"Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey and University of Calgary who recovered the frozen mammoth on site suggest that Nun cho ga died and was frozen in permafrost during the ice age, over 30,000 years old," the government of Yukon said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"These amazing ice age remains provide an extremely detailed glimpse into a time when Nun cho ga roamed the Yukon alongside wild horses, cave lions and giant steppe bison," it added.
Researchers believe the mammoth was "frozen in permafrost during the ice age," the government of Yukon says. (Government of Yukon)
The government said miners working at Eureka Creek uncovered the mammoth while excavating through the permafrost.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There will be one thing that stands out in a person’s entire life and I can guarantee you this is my one thing," Brian McCaughan of Treadstone Mining said in a statement.
Miners working at Eureka Creek made the discovery last week. (Klondike Placer Miner's Association)
The government of Yukon also said the discovery "marks the first near complete and best-preserved mummified woolly mammoth found in North America" as only a "partial mammoth calf, named Effie, was found in 1948 at a gold mine in interior Alaska."
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.