Click here for our free newsletter. The vast majority of mammoth discoveries to date contain no more than fossilized bones and tusks. In Khatanga, the carcass has been stored in a huge ice cave dug by Soviet convicts during Stalin's reign. Scientists will use hair dryers to slowly thaw the specimen bit by bit, so they can learn more about how these ancient animals lived. One mystery is why the woolly mammoth became extinct.
Hypotheses range from overhunting by humans to rapid climate change or a mysterious virus.
Researchers are hoping the Jarkov Mammoth will provide fresh clues. They could, for example, find traces of an ancient virus lurking within the animal's blood or digestive system. And pollen or other plant material caught in the creature's fur may help paint a picture of the region's climate at the time the mammoths vanished, as could bits of still-green plants that have been found embedded in the permafrost that surrounds the specimen. The find may even give scientists an opportunity to bring woolly mammoths back. If they succeed, says Agenbroad, it may be possible to clone a living mammoth, by using the same methodology scientists have developed to clone sheep and other farm animals.