Baby Mammoth Found in Permafrost

The discovery of a baby mammoth preserved in the Russian permafrost gives researchers their best chance yet to build a genetic map of a species extinct since the Ice Age. The mammoth, a female who died at the age of six months, was named "Lyuba." She had been lying in the frozen ground for up to 40,000 years. Weighing 110 pounds and measuring 85 centimeters high and 130 centimeters from trunk to tail, Lyuba is roughly the same size as a large dog.

The fact the mammoth was so remarkably well-preserved -- its shaggy coat was gone but otherwise it looked as though it had only recently died -- meant it was a potential treasure trove for scientists. Its skin condition protects all the internal organs from modern microbes and micro-organisms.

Unidentified "Octosquid" Found

What appears to be a half-squid, half-octopus specimen found off the Big Island of Hawaii remains unidentified and could possibly be a new species. The specimen was found caught in the filter of a deep-sea water pipeline. The pipeline, which runs 3,000 feet deep, sucks up cold, deep-sea water for the tenants of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii.

The specimen tentatively belongs to the genus Mastigoteuthis, but the species is undetermined. Biologists termed the specimen "octosquid" for the way it looked. It is about a foot long, with white suction cups, eight tentacles and an octopus head with a squidlike mantle. The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days.

The pitch-black conditions at 3,000 feet below sea level are unfamiliar to most but riveting to scientists who have had the opportunity to submerge. The sea floor is full of loose sediment, big boulders and rocks, and a lot of mucuslike things floating in the water, which are usually specimens that died at the surface and drifted to the bottom. Lots of fish have heads like a fish and a body like an eel. There are fish floating in a vertical position, with the head up, and don't move unless they're disturbed.

Elephants on an Evening Stroll