Young Butchered Mammoth Discovered In Siberia 72
Velcroman1 writes "A juvenile mammoth, nicknamed 'Yuka,' was found entombed in Siberian ice near the shores of the Arctic Ocean and shows signs of being cut open by ancient people. The remarkably well preserved frozen carcass was discovered in Siberia as part of a BBC/Discovery Channel-funded expedition and is believed to be at least 10,000 years old, if not older. If further study confirms the preliminary findings, it would be the first mammoth carcass revealing signs of human interaction in the region. The carcass is in such good shape that much of its flesh is still intact, retaining its pink color. The blonde-red hue of Yuka's woolly coat also remains."
Buffet? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
There were companies in the US that could turn this into finely textured mammoth meat
Re:Buffet? (Score:5, Informative)
For those not in the know, this already happened [straightdope.com] many, many years ago:
One of the best-documented accounts of a prehistoric meal comes at the end of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe (1990), by Alaska zoology professor Dale Guthrie. After successfully unearthing and preserving "Blue Babe," a 36,000-year-old steppe bison found near Fairbanks in 1979, Guthrie's team celebrates by simmering some leftover flesh from Babe's neck "in a pot of stock and vegetables." The author reports that "the meat was well aged but still a little tough, and it gave the stew a strong Pleistocene aroma." Now, I'm all for scientific esprit de corps, and I'm not by nature an incurious sort, but I'll say right now I don't see the appeal. Let's keep it simple: frozen meat from tundra = specimen; frozen meat from freezer = dinner. Study the mammoths and eat the burgers, and anyone who craves that great prehistoric taste can wash 'em down with Tab.
Re: (Score:3)
Where does that author think that zoologists keep their specimens after retrieving them? Do they really need to take the extra steppe?
Re:Buffet? (Score:5, Insightful)
For those not in the know, this already happened [straightdope.com] many, many years ago:
One of the best-documented accounts of a prehistoric meal comes at the end of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe (1990), by Alaska zoology professor Dale Guthrie. After successfully unearthing and preserving "Blue Babe," a 36,000-year-old steppe bison found near Fairbanks in 1979, Guthrie's team celebrates by simmering some leftover flesh from Babe's neck "in a pot of stock and vegetables." The author reports that "the meat was well aged but still a little tough, and it gave the stew a strong Pleistocene aroma." Now, I'm all for scientific esprit de corps, and I'm not by nature an incurious sort, but I'll say right now I don't see the appeal. Let's keep it simple: frozen meat from tundra = specimen; frozen meat from freezer = dinner. Study the mammoths and eat the burgers, and anyone who craves that great prehistoric taste can wash 'em down with Tab.
Maybe they left it over 10.000 years ago because it wasn't the best meat?
See also this clip from QI on tortoise extinction [youtube.com] by too-hungry explorers.
Re: (Score:3)
So the moral of the story is that rather than bin some of that meat that's been in my freezer a little too long I should just leave it in even longer, say, another 30,000 years, and it'll become edible again?
Re: (Score:2)
I would guess, something like an elephant burger.
Re:Buffet? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
But... (Score:1, Funny)
The Earth is only 6,000 years old! Therefore, this doesn't exist. Or God just planted evidence to test our faith.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Or God just planted evidence to test our faith.
Oblig:
"... I think God put you here to test my faith, dude."
- Bill Hicks, R.I.P.
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
My theory is god put it here just to screw with us. I figure he was sucking back a few brews with his friends while putting together the universe. (Much like an Ikea kit.) when he thought this will f**k them up. I will stick some bones in the ground. It will be hilarious! Of course all his friends agreed with him because he was buying the beer.
Re: (Score:3)
If it was like an Ikea kit, it would explain a number of things.
He's still probably trying to read the directions.
Re: (Score:2)
Cthulhu / Dagon 2012 Why vote for the lesser of two evils?
No way Dagon will get the Republican nomination - he's way too moderate. Cthulhu / Nyarlathothep, that's the ticket!
Re: (Score:1)
I don't understand why people who obviously don't believe this repost the opinion of others. We just waste effort recircling the same argument again and again.
Our environment defines our thinking. People will assume positions if they see that it is possible to have it. If we move the whole discussion so that this position is not part of it anymore, it will be harder to write such a statement.
Some examples: (1) Right-extremist hate speech on foreigners and holocaust-denying makes it possible for otherwise av
Re: (Score:1)
I don't understand why people who obviously don't believe this repost the opinion of others.
It's just a joke.
Taste? (Score:2, Funny)
Did they taste it? Does it taste like chicke?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Did they taste it? Does it taste like chicke?
Nope - elephant
Re:Taste? (Score:5, Funny)
Did they taste it? Does it taste like chicke?
Nope - elephant
Nope - elephan
FTFY
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Taste? (Score:5, Interesting)
Probably not. The closest living relative would be the elephant, and a quick googling suggests that tastes more like moose/elk or buffalo and not like chicken at all. But even being in the deep freezer I think 10,000 years is a little past the "best before" date...
Re: (Score:1)
every old person knows it was always better "back then" therefore nothing actually spoils.
Darn Poachers (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Oh the humanity! (Score:5, Funny)
what a waste (Score:5, Funny)
gamy (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds like it would taste gamy...Maybe it should be marinated in some prehistoric plumb sauce.
Naah. Just homogenize it, centrifuge it, then extrude it at high pressure through a stream of ammonia gas and mix it with hamburger meat. No one will know the difference!
Re: (Score:2)
...some prehistoric plumb sauce.
I prefer prehistoric square sauce myself.
This story gets better with retelling (Score:5, Funny)
The headline for the BBC article "Woolly mammoth carcass may have been cut into by humans"
The headline of the linked story "YOUNG MAMMOTH LIKELY BUTCHERED BY HUMANS"
I especially like the excited all-caps style
Re: (Score:2)
may have been cut into by humans
The fuck? Most of the good meat and plenty of bones have been removed, and they say "may have been"?!
Re: (Score:3)
We aren't the only critters who eat critters.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not true. Read about grizzly bears and salmon.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You know, except for all the other animals that are picky too...
Ex. Orcas, as widely described (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_Australia)
Re: (Score:3)
You know, except for all the other animals that are picky too... Ex. Orcas, as widely described
I'm no paleontologist, but I'm pretty sure this mammoth wasn't eaten by Orcas. Could have been a Great White, I suppose...
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Wrong.
There are many others. African Leopards for example are unique among the big cats for refusing to eat fur. Leopards actually sit for hours plucking the fur from their pray before beginning to eat them.
Re: (Score:2)
Je crois que non. Our late cat Rasputin liked every part of a mouse but the liver...as you could learn to your dismay if you went out on the patio barefoot.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually (assuming this is the same as the documentary on the BBC a few days ago- I'm not going to RTFA to find out), no meat was taken. Just the skull, tusks and a few other bones. Very mysterious.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well closer to our own time, Hannibal did cross the alps [wikipedia.org]. Perhaps due to global warming a French/Italian farmer might uncover a 3rd century BCE elephant from the snow!
Re: (Score:2)
Little did the BBC reporters know that the butchering had actually been done by the scientists.
On the other hand, the Slashdot headline might just be more accurate than TFA's headline for once. Not sure which one is more likely.
But..... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
All the hair.
Re: (Score:1)
That's what she said.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
How do they know it's a 'baby mammoth', rather than a 'standard elephant'?
An African Elephant? In Siberia? Pull the other one. It must be a Woolly Siberian Ice Elephant.
Re: (Score:1)
How do they know it's a 'baby mammoth', rather than a 'standard elephant'?
An African Elephant? In Siberia? Pull the other one. It must be a Woolly Siberian Ice Elephant.
umm...... continental drift, maybe?
Re: (Score:2)
Other than the fact that woolly mammoths are known to have been native to Siberia, among other regions, and this carcass has every characteristic of the other mammoths that have been discovered, starting with the long fur? Nobody said they've discovered a new species. Biologists kinda know about this stuff.
BTW, woolly mammoths are believed to have diverged from Asian elephants, not African elephants. Also, young Asian elephants are kind of fuzzy with the same orange-colored fur as found on this carcass.
African? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
You know, Mammoths aren't actually bigger than living African Elephants. This is the size of a baby elephant, so must have been a baby mammoth.
Yuka sell by date (Score:1)
How bad is it... (Score:2)
Tastes like chicken. (Score:2)
Now, if the story had been about mammoths that ate humans, THAT would be news.
Re: (Score:1)