During a glacial era very unusual animal species lived in Siberia. Many of them already aren't present on Earth. The mammoth was largest of them. The largest individuals reached 4-4,5 meters in height, and their tusks up to 3,5 meters long weighed 110-130 kilograms. Fossil remains of mammoths are found in northern regions of Europe, Asia, America and it is a little to the south - at the width of the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal. Death and burial of mammoths, occurred 44-26 thousand years ago to what radio-carbon datings and results of the palynological analysis of numerous burials of their remains testify.
Really inexhaustible "warehouse" of mamontovy bones — is Siberia. Huge cemetery of mammoths — New Siberian Archipelago. Last century there annually got from 8 to 20 tons of elephant tusks. According to old commercial reports, before World War I export of tusks made 32 tons per year that corresponds to about 220 couples tusks of Northeast Siberia.
It is considered that in 200 years from Siberia it is taken out tusks approximately from 50 thousand mammoths. The kilogram of a good tusk goes abroad on 100 dollars; for a naked skeleton of a mammoth Japanese firms offer now from 150 to 300 thousand dollars. The Magadan mamontenok when sending it in 1979 on a trade exhibition to London was insured in 10 million rubles. In scientific sense to it at all there was no price …
In 1914 on the island Big Lyakhovsky (New Siberian Archipelago) industrialist Konstantin Vollosovich dug out the whole, well remained skeleton of a mammoth. He suggested the Russian Academy of Sciences to redeem from him a find. To it refused, having referred (as always) to lack of money: expedition was just paid for a find of other mammoth.
The count Stenbok-Fermor paid Vollosovich's expenses and presented the acquisition of France. For the whole skeleton and four feet in skin and meat, pieces of a skin the donator received an award of the Honourable legion. So outside Russia there was the only well remained exhibit of a mammoth.