Environmental reconstruction inferred from the intestinal contents of the Yamal baby mammoth Lyuba (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799)

The article presents the results of a complex investigation of the intestinal content of the frozen mummy of a baby woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799) found in 2007 in the Yamal Peninsula (Western Siberia). The mummy belongs to a female mammoth calf approximately 1-1.5 months of age, and it has been named “Lyuba”. Analysis of bone tissue yielded a 14C date of 41,910 (+550/-450) years ago. Analysis of detritus material from the large intestine yielded a 14C date of 41,700 (+700/-550) years ago. These dates practically coincide, thus denoting synchronism of the time of the baby mammoth’s death and the formation of its intestinal contents. This time correspond to the middle part of MIS 3, or the Middle Weichselian Pleniglacial. Pollen, phytolith, plant macrofossil and mineral analyses of the intestinal content were carried out. Reconstruction of the environment where the baby mammoth lived is given based on the intestinal content analyses. The data suggest that the baby mammoth lived in tundra-like landscapes dominated by grass-sedge communities with forbs and Betula nana.