Tonnes of Tusks Swiped in Mammoth Pounce

A jaw-dropping hoard of mammoth tusks has been confiscated from a criminal gang in St. Petersburg.

As many as 64 pristine tusks and 14 reconstructed ones were seized during the January sting.

The arrested gang has allegedly been involved in snuggling mammoth tusks and bones since 2004.

Owing to the specific conditions of the Siberian permafrost, huge quantities of mammoth remains have managed to endure the passing of time.

Current research suggests that the woolly mammoth disappeared from Europe and Siberia in about 8000 B.C. Small numbers of the animals managed to endure in isolated parts of the world such as until about 3000 B.C.

Prior to the eighteenth century, the mammoth remains were considered to belong to giants that once stalked the Siberian lands. Another theory held that the skeletons were not a separate species, but elephants that had been perished during the Great Flood of the Old Testament.