A baby mammoth has just been discovered by a Yukon gold miner. It is more than 30000 years old! Preserved by permafrost ice.

This is a joint news release with Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin.

On June 21, 2022, a near complete, mummified baby woolly mammoth was found in the Klondike gold fields within Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory. Miners working on Eureka Creek uncovered the frozen woolly mammoth while excavating through the permafrost. This is a significant discovery for Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin and the Government of Yukon. Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Elders named the mammoth calf Nun Cho Ga, meaning “big animal baby” in the Hän language.

The Yukon has a world-renowned fossil record of ice age animals, but mummified remains with skin and hair are rarely unearthed. Nun Cho Ga is the most complete mummified mammoth found in North America.

This recovery could not have happened without the collaboration between Brian McCaughan of Treadstone Gold, Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin and the Government of Yukon. In the months to come, Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin and the Government of Yukon will work together to respectfully preserve and learn more about Nun Cho Ga and share these stories and information with the community of Dawson City, residents of the Yukon and the global scientific community.

Quick facts

• A quick examination of the woolly mammoth suggests she is female and roughly the same size as the 42,000 year old infant mummy woolly mammoth “Lyuba” discovered in Siberia in 2007.
• Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey and University of Calgary who recovered the frozen mammoth on site suggest that Nun cho ga died and was frozen in permafrost during the ice age, over 30,000 years old.
• These amazing ice age remains provide an extremely detailed glimpse into a time when Nun cho ga roamed the Yukon alongside wild horses, cave lions and giant steppe bison.
• The discovery of Nun cho ga marks the first near complete and best-preserved mummified woolly mammoth found in North America. A partial mammoth calf, named Effie, was found in 1948 at a gold mine in interior Alaska.
• The successful recovery of the Nun cho ga was possible because of the partnership between miners, Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin and the Government of Yukon’s  Department of Environment,  Yukon Geological Survey, and Yukon Palaeontology Program.
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