Lyuba

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)Lyuba, a baby mammoth that suffocated in thick mud 42,000 years ago, gets the high-tech treatment with this computed tomography (CT) scan.

Khroma

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)An older mammoth, Khroma, also came from the Siberian permafrost, where she died as a baby.

Khroma

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)A view of Khroma's skull, showing her teeth. The mammoth had unusual thick bony structures on her skull, which researchers compared to mustache-like structures.

Khroma, Oblique

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)An oblique view of Khroma's entire body. The mammoth was originally identified as male, but turned out to be female.

Khroma in Profile

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)A somewhat crumpled, but almost entirely complete specimen, Khroma has been on display around the world.

Family Portrait

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)Two baby mammoths, Lyuba and Khroma, side-by-side.

Mammoth Bones

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)This image reveals a sharp look at baby mammoth Lyuba's ribs. Khroma's spine is well-defined.

Mammoth Profiles

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)Lyuba and Khroma in profile. Despite being presumably the same species, the mammoths had very different skeletal structures. The reason for this is still an Ice Age mystery.

Two Mammoth Mysteries

(Image credit: International Mammoth Committee; CT scans by Ford Motor Company, USA, and Centre hospitalier Emile Roux, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.)The scans revealed not only bones, but muscle, organs and even stomach contents. Researchers hope to learn more about these animal's lives and adaptations to their frigid Siberian homes.

Lyuba

(Image credit: University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology)Lyuba was almost perfectly preserved because lactic-acid producing bacteria colonized her body shortly after death, in essence "pickling" her and preserving her from hungry scavengers.

Khroma's feet

(Image credit: University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology)Here, a CT scan reveals a look at Khroma's feet, with the joint capsules colorized.

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