Russia, as you know, is the homeland of elephants. No jokes, everything is serious: mammoths, close relatives, and maybe the ancestors of elephants, perhaps to this day graze somewhere in the secluded corners of the Siberian tundra. In any case, fresh remains of these giant mammals continue to be found in Siberia.
"Mammoth by its nature is a meek and peaceful animal, but affectionate to people, when meeting a man, a mammoth not only does not attack him, but even clings and cuddles to a man …" Where did he get this information?
The charges were dropped …
Among the animals that have disappeared before the eyes of man, the mammoth occupies a special place. It is still not clear why this giant died so quickly from the point of view of evolution, 10-15 thousand years ago, roaming the endless expanses of Siberia.
At first, Stone Age people were blamed for the disappearance of mammoths. There was a hypothesis about the amazing dexterity of primitive hunters who specialized exclusively in eating mammoths. They drove this powerful beast into traps and mercilessly destroyed. The proof was that mammoth bones were found in almost all ancient sites. Sometimes huts made of mammoth skulls and tusks were even excavated. Such finds were considered the most weighty evidence in the charge against a person.
However, at the end of the 20th century, the ancient hunters were rehabilitated. This was done by Academician Nikolai Shilo. He put forward a theory explaining the death of not only mammoths, but also other inhabitants of the North: the Arctic yak, saiga and woolly rhinoceros. 10 thousand years ago, North America and most of Eurasia represented a single continent, welded together by a layer of floating ice covered by the so-called loess - dust particles. Under the cloudless sky and the setting sun, the loess was covered with dense grass. The frosty winters with little snow did not prevent mammoths from receiving large quantities of frozen grass, and long, thick hair, thick undercoat and fat reserves helped to cope with severe frosts.
But the climate has changed - it has become more humid. The "mainland" disappeared on floating ice. The thin crust of loess was washed away by summer rains, and the outskirts of Siberia turned from northern steppes into swampy swampy tundra. The mammoths turned out to be not adapted to the humid climate: they sank into swamps, their warm undercoat was soaked by the rains, and a thick layer of snow that fell in winter did not allow them to reach the scarce tundra vegetation.
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So, mammoths simply physically could not survive to our time. The entries made at the beginning of the twentieth century by the local historian Gorodtsov could be considered as excerpts from a beautiful fairy tale. But as if in spite of scientists, fresh remains of mammoths continue to be found in Siberia.
Strange finds
In 1977, a seven-month-old perfectly preserved mammoth was found on the Krigilyakh River, and then traveled around the entire globe with an exhibition. A little later, in the Magadan region, they found an Enmynvil mammoth, or rather one of its hind legs. But what a leg it was! It was remarkable for its amazing freshness, without any signs of decay.
The found remains allowed scientists L. Gorbachev and S. Zadalsky from the Institute of Biological Problems of the North to study in detail not only the hairline of the mammoth, but also the structural features of the animal's skin, as well as the content of its sweat and sebaceous glands. It turned out that mammoths had a thick hairline, abundantly lubricated with fat. So climate change could not lead to the complete destruction of these animals.
The change in diet also could not be fatal for the “northern elephant”. Back in 1901, on the Berezovka River, a tributary of the Kolyma, a well-preserved corpse of a mammoth was found, scrupulously studied by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In the stomach of the animal, scientists discovered plant remains typical of modern floodplain meadows in the lower reaches of the Lena River.
Mysterious "all"
The new information allows us to take more seriously the described cases of meetings of people in our country with mammoths. They started long ago. Travelers from many countries who had visited Muscovy and Siberia and were unaware of the opinions of modern biologists, stubbornly wrote about the existence of mammoths.
Ambassador Herberstein of the Austrian emperor Sigismund, who visited Russia in the middle of the 16th century, wrote in his Notes on Muscovy: “Siberia is home to a great variety of birds and various animals, such as sables, martens, beavers, ermines, squirrels … - all. Likewise, polar bears, hares …”.
Who is this mysterious "whole"? Local historian P. Gorodkov tells about him in detail in his essay "A Trip to the Salym Territory", published in 1911. It turns out that the Kolyma Khanty called the "weight" a huge beast with a "very long, like a pike, nose, thick, long hair and horns above its mouth." Sometimes the "vesti" started such a fuss among themselves that the ice on the lake broke with a terrible roar."
Here is another very interesting legend. During the famous campaign of Yermak to Siberia in the dense taiga, his warriors saw giant hairy elephants. Until now, experts are at a loss: who did the vigilantes meet? After all, real elephants at that time were already known in Russia. They were kept only in the royal menagerie and at the courts of some governors.
We met this "extinct" giant in the twentieth century
1913, Western Siberia, shallow lake Leusha. After the celebration of Trinity Day, boys and girls returned in wooden boats, an accordion played. And suddenly, 300 meters from them, a huge hairy carcass rises out of the water. Some of the men shouted: "Mammoth!" The boats huddled together, and people watched with fear as the three-meter colossus that appeared above the water swayed on the waves for several moments. Then the hairy body dived and disappeared into the depths.
In the area of Tobolsk Zabolotye in 1986, the story of the postman Ivan Kutya was recorded, who saw how a huge mammoth went out onto the reach of the river, plunged into the water and disappeared.
The famous researcher of disappeared animals Maya Bykova told about the pilot V. T., who saw a mammoth in Yakutia in the late 90s. Moreover, the animal also plunged into the water of the lake and swam away.
Closer to the water
Where could such huge animals hide? Let's try to figure it out. The climate in Siberia has changed. You will not find food in the coniferous taiga. Another thing is along river valleys or near lakes.
The author of this article worked for five years as a geologist on expeditions to the Urals and Western Siberia. To this day I curse the tedious routes over the floodplain overgrown with tall grass. True, rich flooded meadows were replaced here by impassable swamps, and the most convenient way to get to them was by water.
And what prevents a mammoth from doing this? Why doesn't he switch to a semi-aquatic lifestyle? He should be able to swim well. And here we can rely not only on the legends of local residents, in which the mammoth very often dived into a river or lake and hid from people.
The closest relatives of mammoths are elephants, and these giants are excellent swimmers. They not only love to swim in shallow water, but also know how to swim far. If elephants not only love to swim, but also do many kilometers of swimming, why can't mammoths be able to do this?
Who do you think are their distant relatives? Famous sea sirens about which there are charming myths. Sirens evolved from terrestrial proboscis animals and retained common features with elephants: mammary glands, molars change throughout life, and tusk-like incisors.
But sirens aren't the only ones with elephant traits. Elephants also retain some of the characteristics of marine animals. More recently, biologists have discovered that elephants have a property that is unique to land animals. They are capable of emitting and receiving infrasounds below the sensitivity threshold of the human ear.
The organ of "hearing" in elephants is the vibrating frontal bones. Only marine animals such as whales have such abilities. Probably, in addition to this property, elephants and their relatives mammoths retained other qualities that facilitate the transition to an aquatic existence.
Neck or trunk?
Arguments in favor of the existence of a mammoth in the Russian North can also be found in descriptions of mysterious animals that exist in the cold lakes of Siberia.
A strange animal living in the Yakut lake Labynkyr was seen by geologist Viktor Tverdokhlebov on July 30, 2003. While on a plateau that rose on the surface of the lake, he noticed "something" barely rising above the surface of the water. From the dark gray carcass of the animal, which was swimming towards the shore with heavy throws, large waves diverged in a triangle.
Most cryptozoologists are sure that the geologist saw one of the varieties of waterfowl lizards, which in an incomprehensible way survived to our time and for some reason chose the icy waters of the lake, where reptiles, as they say, are physiologically unable to live.
Recently the MAI Kosmopoisk group visited the lake. Its participants saw muddy, rippling footprints on the water. On the coast, ice stalactites were found, formed as a result of water flowing from a drying animal, one and a half meters wide and five meters long. Imagine for a minute a crocodile with icicles falling from it! Yes, he, poor fellow, having fallen into such climatic conditions, would have turned into an ice log in twenty minutes.
And that's what is remarkable. In stories about the extraordinary inhabitants of lakes, a similar description often slips: a long flexible neck, and behind it a body towering above the water. But maybe, in fact, it was not the long neck and body of a reptile plesiosaur, but a high-raised trunk and the head of a mammoth located behind it?
So, the mammoth, which disappeared 10 thousand years ago after a sharp change in climate, may not have disappeared at all, but, as in the song of Vladimir Vysotsky, “dived and lay down on the ground”. He simply does not want to be “tracked down” and allowed to eat. Maybe we will respect his desire?..
Mikhail BURLESHIN