Recently, a new member entered the NEFU Forestry Museum. Its giant fossil skeleton nearly fills the whole exhibition space. With the copper-colored curved front tusks extending forward, its mouth is slightly opened. It seems as if it is roaring for its companions. This is themammoth fossilthat brings the vanished ancient world to visitors.
On the afternoon of June 15th, Chen Wenhui, the deputy secretary of Party Committee in charge of museum work, accompanied by the curator Zhang Guangxian and deputy curator Li Jianwei, visited this hugemammoth fossil and learned about it in detail.
Zhang Guangxian, the curator, said that the mammoth was an animal who could adapt to the cold climate. It was once the world’s largest elephant, weighing up to 12 tons. The mammoth and the Asian elephant were descended from the same ancestors 4.8 million years ago, while the African elephant was descended separately from the genealogy earlier about 7.3 million years ago. The adult mammoth was tall and strong, with strong thighs, stout toes, and a huge head. In the mouth, a pair of curved front teeth grew. The body length of an adult mammoth was of 5-6 meters, with a body height of about 3-4 meters, which is larger than the African elephant. The tusks were t 1.5-2.5 meters, and it was dressed in black fine long hair, with a very thick layer of fat. The last batch of mammoths became extinct after the advent of mankind, and was once an important hunting object of the Stone Age. On the walls of many cave sites in Europe, the mammals painted by early humans can be seen.
This fossil specimen exhibited in our museum is about 6 meters in length, and about 3.5 meters in height. It was excavated in the Russian Yakutsk region, and 85% of the fossil bones were real, but the tail vertebrae, phalanx and other small bone fossils are reconstructions because they were not completely preserved over such a long time.
Deputy Secretary Chen Wenhui observed the mammoth fossils carefully, and raised some questions about the maintenance of the collections. Zhang Changtong explained that mammoth fossil specimens need regular maintenance. For the “health” of the new member, the museum made a special trip to consult the experts in Heilongjiang Province to ensure the mammoth specimen would remain in its best condition, so as to provide the visitors with perfect tour experience.
