A woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) carcass from Maly Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Islands, Russian Federation)

Abstract

A partial carcass of an adult woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) found in 2012 on Maly Lyakhovsky Island presents a new opportunity to retrieve associated anatomical, morphological, and life history data on this important component of Pleistocene biotas. In addition, we address hematological, histological, and microbiological issues that relate directly to quality of preservation. Recovered by staff from North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, this individual is a relatively old female preserving soft tissue of the anteroventral portion of the head, most of both fore-quarters, and the ventral aspect of much of the rest of the body. Both tusks were recovered and subjected to computed tomographic analysis in which annual dentin increments were revealed as cycles of variation in X-ray attenuation. Measurements of annual increment areas (in longitudinal section) display a pulsed pattern of tusk growth showing cycles of growth rate variation over periods of 3e5 years. These intervals are interpreted as calving cycles reflecting regular shifts in calcium and phosphate demand for tusk growth vs. fetal ossification and lactation. Brown liquid associated with the frozen carcass turned out to include remains of hemolyzed blood, and blood samples examined microscopically included white blood cells with preserved nuclei. Muscle tissue from the trunk was unusually well preserved, even at the histological level. Intestinal contents and tissue samples were investigated microbiologically, and several strains of lacticacid bacteria (e.g., Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus hirae) that are widely distributed as commensal organisms in the intestines of herbivores were isolated.

Draft Genome Sequence of Enterococcus faecium Strain 58m, Isolated from Intestinal Tract Content of a Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius

“…Enterococcus faecium strain 58m is a putative ancient bacterial isolate obtained from the digestive tract content of the so-called Malolyakhovskiy mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius [Blumenbach, 1799]), whose partial carcass was excavated by staff of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, North-Eastern Federal University (Yakutsk, Russian Federation) in May 2013 ( 2 ). The remains of this animal were dated by an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method at the Center for Isotope Research of Groningen University at 28,610 ± 110 years of age.…”

A preliminary review of bone and teeth abnormalities seen in recent Loxodonta and extinct Mammuthus and Mammut, and suggested implications

“…Pathological vertebrae in Mammuthus have been described and illustrated by Krzemi nska and colleagues and others (Krzemi nska, 2008;Krzemi nska and Wojtal, 2014;Krzemi nska et al, 2015), Leshchinskiy (2012Leshchinskiy ( , 2014, and Shidlovsky and Kirillova (2014). Dental abnormalities in Mammuthus have been noted by Kubiak (1965), Roth (1989), Niven and Wojtal (2002), Krzemi nska (2008), Krzemi nska and Wojtal (2014), and Grigoriev et al (2014), among others.…”

Структурно-функциональная организация контрольного района митохондриальной ДНК шерстистого мамонта ( Mammuthus primigenius )

“…Новосибирского архипелага недалеко от морского побережья на склоне невысокого холма была обнаружена туша шерстистого мамонта, Mammuthus primigenius. По оценке палеонтологов, возраст находки составляет 32,5-33 тысяч лет [7]. В процессе раскопок в ледовых пустотах ниже брюха и в подмышечной области в двух местах наблюдалось скопление небольшого количества темно-бурой жидкости, что удивительно, учитывая возраст находки.…”

“…Большое количество этой замерзшей бурой 3 жидкости окружало всю тушу в самой ее нижней части. Морфологические признаки свидетельствовали, что животное было старой самкой приблизительно 50-60 лет, в частности, судя по относительно небольшому размеру -рост около 230 см в холке, наличию сосков, форме и весу бивней (16 и 17 кг), и состоянию последней генерации зубов [7].…”