14 DAY TRIAL // Quite a while ago, in 2010, the mummified remains of a fairly young woolly mammoth were discovered on the coast of the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean.
Researchers have been studying them ever since, and in a recent paper, they argue that the brain of this mammoth is by far the best preserved such organ ever.
Writing in the journal Quaternary International, specialists detail that the folds and the blood vessels of this 39,000-year-old mummified mammoth brain are still visible.
Besides, word has it that, with the help of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, scientists were even able to identity white and gray matter in a brain region dubbed the cerebrum, Live Science informs.
“Until now, there was no opportunity to examine the whole brain of a woolly mammoth, which might have had complicated behavior, similar to modern elephants,” researcher Anastasia Kharlamova said in a statement.
True, the brain has shrunk to a considerable extent and is now nearly half its original size. Besides, it sports brown stains that specialists say were caused by oxidation. Still, given its age, there is little doubt that it is in great shape.
While studying the anatomy of this ancient mammoth brain, scientists found that it closely resembled that of the elephants that roam the Earth in this day and age.
Then again, since both species are included in the family Elephantidae, researchers expected to pin down at least some similarities between these animals.
As detailed in the journal Quaternary International, the mammoth specimen found on the Laptev Sea back in 2010 is the first such animal to have until now been discovered with a nearly intact brain.
The animal, estimated to have been about 6 to 9 years old at the time it died and became mummified, now goes by the name of Yuka.
