The remains of a female mammoth cub were found in the Canadian permafrost
Some time ago, according to media reports, a gold miner in Canada found the remains of a female mammoth cub in the Permafrost in the Yukon region while working, which is not so much a remains as a "mummy", and scientists have given it a nice name. Judging from the photos provided by the media, the cub is not very old, its eyes are closed as if it is asleep, the skin is well preserved, and the skin is pink and tender. Looking at the photos, it is hard to believe that this is a prehistoric creature, as if it happened yesterday.
But it turns out that the mammoth cub is from the Ice Age, more than 30,000 years ago. This shocked scientists, as old as they were so well preserved. Scientists explain that the mammoth's cub must have been trapped in a swamp, and as the temperature dropped, its flesh skin was so well preserved. You can see how low the temperature of the Arctic permafrost is, even after more than 30,000 years, you can still see the size of this mammoth cub. However, is this the first time humans have found a prehistoric organism in the permafrost? After many centuries, the remains of mammoths have been excavated, is it good or bad? The old rules, praise and attention, the curator took the officials and then looked down
In fact, this is not the first time. Since 2016, fossils of mammoth remains and the like have been found everywhere. In 2018, the remains of an intact mammoth were exhumed in Russia's Siberian region, the best preserved remains to date. Like this mammoth cub, it retains intact skin and hair, even as if it had just died yesterday. It turned out that the temperature of the permafrost was so low that it could preserve prehistoric creatures from tens of thousands of years ago, and now it is found to be so complete. So what is a mammoth? Why did it go extinct?
Why did mammoths become extinct?
Mammoths are also called long woolly elephants, because of the long hairs on their bodies, hence the name. It has a very thick fat layer, which is what we call the skin thick and the cold area is not afraid of freezing. Mammoths eat grass and beans in the summer, and when they have little food in the winter, they eat bark. Mammoths can be said to be the old ancestors of today's elephants, living in the same era as the ancestors of humans, apes, and human ancestors often fed on mammoths and made various tools from mammoth bones.
There has always been a saying on the Internet that if humans had not appeared, mammoths would not have gone extinct. Needless to say, the causes and consequences here are already obvious. If it were simply because of global warming, the melting of glaciers would not cause mammoths to disappear from the world. Although the climate and topography changed and caused the mammoths to find no food, the last straw crushed the camels, which was the wanton hunting of humans. What is that permafrost?
What is permafrost?
As the name suggests, the permafrost layer is the eternal frozen strata, the surface layer of the permafrost layer will melt in the summer, but in the winter it will freeze, and the lower layer is frozen all year round. The thickness of the permafrost gradually thins from high to low latitude, mainly distributed in the North Pole or the South Pole, the higher the latitude, the lower the temperature, so the deeper the permafrost layer. After many centuries, the remains of mammoths have been "dug up", whether it is good or bad, and what does its appearance indicate?
This time in the permafrost found a female mammoth "mummy", is this good or bad? What does its appearance portend?
Mammoths began to become extinct 10,000 years ago, and now they have been excavated in the permafrost, which may be of some value to scientists studying the ethnic problems of mammoths. Russia has invested heavily in cloning centers in the hope of reviving mammoths through cloning technology. However, for humans, whether it is the excavation of mammoths or other prehistoric creatures in the extremely cold and frozen soil layers, it also means that ancient viruses and bacteria may also be brought.
After all, the temperature of the frozen soil is very low, like a natural large freezer, or the kind with excellent cooling effect. You see, the prehistoric animals of tens of thousands of years ago were so well preserved that no one can guarantee that the bacteria of the past also survived well in the frozen soil. Scientists have extracted a virus from 30,000 years ago in the Siberian permafrost and resurrected it in the laboratory through certain technical means, and found that the virus is still contagious. Everyone doesn't know how harmful the ancient bacteria really are, but as the new crown epidemic has repeatedly broken out, we can't underestimate the ancient bacteria. Once it is transmitted to humans, the consequences are unimaginable, perhaps more serious than the COVID-19 pandemic.