A 40,000-year-old baby woolly mammoth, the best-preserved specimen in existence, is centre stage at Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age feature exhibition opening June 3 at the Royal BC Museum.
Lyuba (pronounced Lee-OO-bah) is the world’s most complete mammoth. Her remarkable discovery in the frozen soil of the Arctic in 2007 by a Siberian reindeer herder made immediate international headlines.
This will be the first opportunity to the see the baby mammoth in Canada. Lyuba is on loan from the Shemanovskiy Yamal-Nenets District Museum and Exhibition Complex in northern Siberia, Russia.
“We are honoured that the Shemanovsky Museum-Exhibition Complex is loaning Lyuba to the Royal BC Museum,” CEO Jack Lohman says. “Seeing this unbelievable treasure in person will allow British Columbians, and our visitors to discover how science has brought this baby mammoth’s story to life. This is an example of our continued collaboration with cultural institutions across the globe to further interest in science, culture and history.”
Scientists were able to retrace Lyuba’s short life and determine that she was about 30 days old when she suffocated after being trapped in mud along the banks of a river. Samples of Lyuba’s soft tissue and tusks suggest she was healthy at the time of her death.
The exhibit guides visitors through the ancient landscapes where mammoths once lived. There are also plenty of interactive stations for kids of all ages.
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Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age opens this Friday at the Royal BC Museum.
Photos: ItkasanImages
