Wooly mammoth, believed to be 10,000 years old, found in Siberia

Scientists examining the animal believe it shows evidence of human scavengers

Scientists have discovered a 10,000-year-old extremely well-preserved juvenile woolly mammoth in a frozen ice cliff in Siberia.

Not only can scientists tell the mammoth, which they have named Yuka, was attacked by a lion, but they can tell humans scavenged it.

The most drastic marks on the mammoth were not made by a lion, but were serrated cuts, which scientists believe must have been made by tools, according to Digital Journal.

Researchers suggest humans stole the kill from the lions and were able to cut it up to get at the meat as opposed to gnawing away with teeth at the flesh.

"It appears that Yuka was pursued by one or more lions or another large field, judging from deep, unhealed scratches in the hide and bite marks on the tail," explained Daniel Fisher, curator and director of the University of Michigan's Museum of Paleontology, to Discovery News. "Yuka then apparently fell, breaking one of the lower hind legs. At this point, humans may have moved in to control the carcass, butchering much of the animal and removing parts that they would use immediately."

Many of the organs, vertebrae, ribs and meat are missing, but scientists believe the hunters may have been saving the rest for leftovers and never got to it.

The carcass was discovered as part of a BBC/Discovery Channel-funded expedition.

"Its foot pad and thick strawberry-blonde hair are exquisitely preserved," noted professor Alice Roberts in a BBC article.

French mammoth hunter Bernard Buigues of the "Mammuthus" organization kept the specimen from going to collectors and said humans were interested in the mammoth's fat and large bones. He told Discovery News humans may have used the bones for some sort of ritual.

This discovery is expected to yield a lot of knowledge about the life of a mammoth because it includes hair while most found are only bone.

Kevin Campbell of the University of Manitoba has studied Yuka and believes this find could one day lead to the cloning of the animal.

"I'm not against having a mammoth in my garden in the future," he told Discovery News.

Wooly Mammoth: Secrets of the Ice aired Wednesday in the U.K. and will air at a later date in the U.S.

(AFP image)