The skeleton of Tadibe the mammoth, discovered in Yamal in 2020, has been sent to Leningrad Oblast for restoration. It will be restored at the International Restoration Center in the village of Rozhdestveno. The work will take about a year, after which the skeleton will be returned to Salekhard, to the I.S. Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex, in a reconstructed, complete form. This was reported by the portal of the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO).
"One of the country's leading specialists in the restoration of natural history objects, Yuri Starikov, will lead the restoration work on the exhibit," the message says.
The skeleton was discovered in 2020 on the shore of Lake Pechеvalavato in the Seyakhinskaya tundra by local resident Konstantin Tadibe, after whom the mammoth was named. Excavations were carried out by specialists from the I.S. Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex, the Arctic Research Center, and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology. They discovered about 90 elements, which is more than 80% of the skeleton, with preserved fragments of soft tissues and skin. Specialists determined that it was a young, large male aged 12-14 years, who lived more than 44 thousand years ago.
For four years, the remains of the ancient animal were stored in a refrigerator. The elements were sent to Leningrad Oblast in two stages. All fragments were hermetically sealed and placed in special boxes.
"Tadibe the mammoth will return to Yamal's main museum next year as a full-fledged museum exhibit," the YNAO government noted.
The I.S. Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex has a rich paleontological collection, including a number of unique exhibits. Among them is the skeleton of the Mongochensky mammoth, which is about 17 thousand years old, and the mummy of the world-famous Lyuba mammoth, found in 2007 and lived more than 42 thousand years ago.
