Compile: Mintina
On June 21, a hairy juvenile mammoth was found in the Kunyu region
Photo courtesy of Treadstone Gold
For the gold diggers in the Kunyu region, Travis Delawski, June 21 began no differently than any other day – but ended with a lifetime of discoveries.
Some incredible things happen as Delawski uses large machinery to search for gold nuggets in the Permafrost mud and permafrost layers of Canada.
"I use a ripper to dig out the dirt, I look down at the formation, something is looking at me!" He said it sparked laughter at the official government briefing meeting. "I said, ah!"
Less than a month later, a consortium of miners, First Nations leaders, paleontologists and Canadian government officials told the world that they had found a juvenile female mammoth. The elders of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin tribe named the mammoth Nam cho ga, which means "big animal baby" in Hän.
Unlike any mammoth that became a corpse, this is the most complete specimen found in North America.
Nun cho ga, mammoth juvenile dried elephant corpse, Kunyu regional native ethnic group leader Roberta Joseph, official Ranj Pillai and Brian McCaughan of the Treadstone mine
Photo courtesy of Kunyu District Government
Historic discoveries
There is still much research to be done, but officials say initial examinations show the juvenile mammoth died more than 30,000 years ago during the Ice Age.
Nun cho ga is likely to have been born only 30-35 days before his death, similar in size to Lyuba, a 42,000-year-old mammoth cub found in Siberia in 2007.
The Kunyu region has a world-famous record for the number of ice age animal fossils. In 1948, part of the mammoth's remains were found at a gold mine in the middle of Alaska. However, dry corpses that still retain skin and hair are extremely rare.
A large number of people contributed to the recently discovered remains, with Treadstone Mining Company bearing the brunt of it, immediately notifying Kunyu government officials and Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin local ethnic management agency.
After a ceremony was held by members of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin ethnic group, miners, scientists, people wrapped up nun cho ga
Photo courtesy of Kunyu District Government
"Living Gods"
On July 13, leaders of the First Nation organization organized an official briefing meeting on excavations. They reportedly choosing this name for the animal because there is no word "mammoth" in the Hän language.
Roberta Joseph, leader of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin ethnic group, underscores the spiritual significance of this local culture that has lived in the Kunyu region for thousands of years.
"Nun Choga's discovery goes beyond science itself," Chief Joseph said. "She's not just a historic dry corpse. She is one of our sacred ancestors. Nun cho ga was – and still is – a living deity. ”
"The most exciting scientific discovery"
The University of Calgary has also taken on key tasks in the process of safely moving mammoths. Professor Dan Shugar, who helped dig, couldn't hide his excitement in a Twitter update.
"As this week (Solstice Day and Local Ethnic Day!) The discovery of juvenile mammoths in the permafrost of the Klondike region, a member of Nun cho ga, is the most exciting scientific excavation I have ever been involved in, without a doubt," Shugar wrote.
Most of those involved in the mammoth story expressed the same enthusiasm, including the ancient biologist of the Kunyu region, Dr. Grant Zazula.
As an ice age paleontologist, being able to see a real mammoth is one of my life's dreams," says Zazula. "Today it came true. Nun cho ga is one of the most stunning dry corpses of the beautiful, ice age that people have found. ”
Scientists say Nun cho ga offers people a deeper understanding of the times that have disappeared, the possibility of mammoths living with wild horses, cave lions and giant prairie bison.
Source: Andrew McLemore