Russian Customs seizes 3 tons of Woolly Mammoth Tusks

A few days ago in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Russian authorities found themselves having a mammoth problem of a time. The authorities found themselves confiscating 3 tonnes worth of ancient and valuable woolly mammoth tusks from a gang of criminals who were attempting to smuggle these tusks out of Russia.

A skeleton of a Mammoth

On Thursday, the court office said that they this would be gang of smugglers were transporting a total of 64 full mammoth tusks as well as 14 reconstructed woolly mammoth tusks. All of these tusks originally belonged to mammoths which inhabited Yakutia, also known as the Siberian Sakha Republic.

These tusks have survived over thousands of years in the famous permafrost which covers most of the Siberian region. However, the permafrost has continued to melt over the years due to climate change. It is said that in Yakutia, there are 15 tonnes of woolly mammoth tusks which are unearthed every single year. Mammoths were a genus of hairy elephant which became extinct over 10,000 years ago.

According to a press release from the courts, a small gang of criminals have been involved in smuggling out bones and tusks from extinct beasts across Russia’s borders since 2004. However, the details of the value of the cache from the gang caught were not immediately known.

Funnily enough, the news of criminal gangs trying to ship out mammoth tusks to an unknown source comes on the back of scientific discovery providing clues on curing osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. In other mammoth-related news, apparently Scientists from the United States and Japan are also having a mammoth task of resurrecting this prehistoric beast via cloning.