Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered in Drought-Stricken Danube River

Bones of a mammoth believed to have survived the Ice Age have been discovered in the Danube River in Bulgaria, where water levels have dropped to record lows due to drought, AFP reported on the 30th (local time).

According to the Historical Museum of Bulgaria, bones estimated to be a mammoth's lower jaw, pieces of tusks, part of a shoulder blade, and a thigh bone were found in the Danube River near the northeastern Bulgarian city of Ruse.

Based on the color and size of the bones, museum officials estimated that they belonged to a young woolly mammoth that spent a long time in a swampy environment.

Woolly mammoths are known to have coexisted with early humans.

Humans hunted woolly mammoths for food, and used their tusks and bones as tools.

Mammoths went extinct about 4,000 years ago.

The mammoth bones were accidentally discovered by a local resident the previous day and recovered by museum experts.

The Danube River is one of Europe's largest rivers, passing through 10 countries from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea.

Due to persistent droughts recently, most sections are recording historic low water levels.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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