Bringing a Mammoth to EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN:
Mammoth Excavation and Exhibition Organizing Committee Launched, Survey Team to Head to Russia in August
TOKYO, Japan, July 17, 2003 --
The Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition has been considering excavating the remains of a mammoth, an animal believed to have become extinct between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago, from the permafrost in Siberia and making it a featured exhibition at EXPO 2005. Today these plans come to fruition with the launch of the Mammoth Excavation and Exhibition Organizing Committee. The organizational structure and future schedules have been decided upon, and a survey team will be put together and dispatched in early August for the purpose of selecting a location.
As it was a large mammal that coexisted with humans during the Ice Age, the mammoth is a precious inheritance of the Earth. Regrettably, though, a perfectly intact specimen has yet to be discovered. The display of such a mammoth as it existed thousands of years ago will of course greatly impress visitors to EXPO 2005. But more than that, it is believed that doing so will make a major contribution to the future study of extinct animals and the process of bringing them back. The organizational structure, schedule, and plan to dispatch the survey teams are as follows:
Organizational structure:
There will be an EXPO 2005 Mammoth Excavation and Exhibition Organizing Committee, beneath which will be an Implementation Committee, an Academic Research Committee, and a Secretariat.
Schedule:
The first stage (August-September 2003) involves preliminary surveys and data collection in Russia. The second stage (May-September 2004) is when a mammoth will be excavated. The specimen will be transported and a display area constructed at the EXPO 2005 venue in the third stage (October 2004-May 2005). In the fourth stage (March-September 2005) the mammoth will be exhibited at EXPO 2005. It will be kept intact and passed on to the future after EXPO 2005 comes to an end.
Time frame of dispatch (tentative):
First survey – For approximately one month beginning in early August 2003. Second survey - For approximately one month beginning in early September 2003.
Area of survey:
Khatanga and Yakutsk in the Russian Federation
