Mammoth blockage found down the drains
THE skeleton of a giant woolly mammoth has been uncovered during roadworks in Mexico.
It is believed the ten-ton beast died at least 14,000 years ago after getting stuck in a muddy lake, where it was probably killed by human hunters or other predators.
The well-preserved remains show the mammoth would have been more than 16ft tall. Its giant curved tusks, which palaeontologists have wrapped in bandages to help protect them from the air, are 10ft long.
The fossilised bones were originally found in December by workers digging drains for
‘Cut up for its meat’
a busy road in Tultepec, near Mexico City.
Since then, experts have been working to extract the full skeleton, which is about three-quarters complete, and their task is almost finished.
Luis Cordoba, of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, said the remains of more than 50 mammoths have been discovered around the capital.
In prehistoric times there was a shallow saltwater lake in the area where the heavy creatures often got stuck. The lake was also very good at preserving their remains. However, Mr Cordoba believes this mammoth was later cut up by humans for its meat or pelt. Scientists hope to eventually piece together the fossil parts and put them on display.
Known as the Columbian mammoth, the animals lived across the US and Central America, and were one of the last mammoth species to roam the Earth.
It was first described in 1857 by Scottish naturalist Hugh Falconer, who named it Elephas columbi after Christopher Columbus.