Sus ojos, sus almohadillas e incluso sus órganos internos están intactos. Sin embargo, se trata de un joven mamut lanudo que vivió hace más de 10.000 años.

Su cuerpo perfectamente conservado fue descubierto en el suelo helado de Siberia por cazadores de colmillos, quienes lo entregaron a los científicos.

Alerta roja: Ginger Yuka tiene alrededor de 10.000 años y aparece aquí con parte del equipo que la estudió

Si bien se han encontrado muchos huesos antes, por lo que tenemos una idea de cómo se veían las criaturas legendarias cuando vagaban por las llanuras heladas, este es único por ser un cadáver congelado casi completo.

Los expertos creen que podría proporcionar un tesoro de información del pasado, no sólo sobre estas criaturas, sino también sobre los primeros humanos que vivieron junto a ellas durante la Edad del Hielo.

El mamut, que tenía entre tres y cuatro años cuando murió, fue encontrado en la región Ust-Yansky de Yakutia, la parte más remota de Siberia.

Most remarkable is the fact that it had two clean cuts on its back and several bones had been removed including its spine, skull, ribs and pelvis. The skull was found nearby.

A long straight cut stretches from its head to the centre of its back, as well as an ‘unusual patterned opening’ on the right flank made of small serrations as if from a primitive saw-like tool. This skilful butchery could not have been the work of a predator such as a lion, and was probably the work of cavemen eking out a living during the Ice Age.

Although mammoths featured in cave paintings from the time, this is the first evidence that humans preyed on them in the days when ice sheets covered 40 per cent of the northern hemisphere.

The mammoth appears to have escaped another predator at an earlier stage as it had a broken leg and other injuries, which suggest an epic struggle

Mammoths evolved from African elephants when the Ice Age set in. They were around twice the size of today’s elephants and weighed up to eight tonnes

The find suggests humans may have contributed to their extinction, before the creatures were finally wiped out in the great thaw ten millennia ago.

The 6ft-long mammoth, nicknamed Yuka, appears to have escaped another predator at an earlier stage as it had a broken leg and other injuries which suggest an epic struggle.

Daniel Fisher, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan and a world expert on mammoths, said: ‘There is dramatic evidence of a life-and-death struggle between Yuka and some top predator, probably a lion. Even more interesting, there are hints that humans may have taken over the kill at an early stage.

Hair we go: Woolly mammoths were similar in height to African elephants

Yuka has been preserved in spectacularly good condition and is the first mammoth carcasss to be pulled from the ice with its ginger fur still attached

The discovery has been described as being of ‘huge’ significance – and could be the first direct evidence of early man having attacked mammoths

The ‘strawberry blonde’ mammoth is the first of its kind ever found

‘Were humans using the lions to catch mammoths and then moving the lions off their kill?’

Mammoths evolved from African elephants when the Ice Age set in. They were around twice the size of today’s elephants, weighed up to eight tons, and their long tusks helped them fight predators and pick grass and shrubs out of the ice.

Scientists could dissect Yuka or use infrared scanning to look at its organs and understand how mammoths managed to adapt to the harsh conditions. Using the body tissue, which is normally lost, they can also use the latest technology to analyse its genome, raising the possibility of cloning a mammoth from the remains.

Visitors to the exhibition in Taiwan will be able to see the extraordinary details of the mammoth’s well-preserved body, including the pads on its feet, pictured

The remains were found by Siberian hunters and handed over to the Mammuthus science organisation

Los mamuts lanudos (en la ilustración) tenían aproximadamente el doble de tamaño que los elefantes actuales y pesaban hasta ocho toneladas. Sus largos colmillos les ayudaron a luchar contra los depredadores y a recoger hierba y arbustos del hielo.

Bernard Buiges, de la organización Mammathus, obtuvo el cadáver, cuyo 𝑠e𝑥o no fue especificado, de cazadores de colmillos siberianos. Confía en que no fueron ellos los encargados de retirar los huesos y que fue obra del Hombre. El increíble hallazgo se mostró anoche en el programa de BBC2 Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice.

La presentadora, anatomista y profesora Alice Roberts, de la Universidad de Birmingham, dijo que era como una “máquina del tiempo hacia el pasado”, y añadió: “Simplemente no parece un animal que murió hace 10.000 años”. Parece tan fresco, casi vivo. Es un momento histórico.”

El profesor Adrian Lister del Museo de Historia Natural dijo: “Este parece uno de los cadáveres de mamut más completos que jamás hayamos encontrado”.

‘La gran mayoría de los fósiles son sólo huesos y dientes porque eso es lo que sobrevive bajo tierra. Así que encontrar un cadáver completo, con toda su carne, piel y pelo como este, sólo puede ocurrir en el extremo norte de Siberia.’