3D Images of Mammoth Calf Mummies Yield Trove of Insights

Full body of a mummified woolly mammoth, with trunk facing to the right, against light background.
A photograph of Lyuba’s external appearance prior to any internal examination. 
Francis Latreille

Three-dimensional scans of two mummified newborn woolly mammoths recovered from the Siberian Arctic are revealing previously inaccessible details about the early development of prehistoric proboscideans. X-ray images further show that both animals died from suffocation after inhaling mud. The findings are detailed July 8 in an online publication of a special issue of the Journal of Paleontology.