Russian Boy Discovers 'Woolly Mammoth Of The Century'

An 11-year-old boy from a nomadic family in Russia's north has discovered a well-preserved woolly mammoth, in what scientists describe as the best such discovery since 1901. Yevgeny Salinder, whose family lives near a polar station in the northern Taymyr Peninsula, discovered the frozen prehistoric animal when he was walking along the banks of the Yenisei River in late August.

He sensed an unpleasant odour and saw something sticking out of the ground. Alexei Tikhonov, director of the St Petersburg-based Zoological Museum, said it was the best preserved adult mammoth discovered in more than 100 years.