During the late Pleistocene 40,000 years ago mammoths still thrived in the cold, dry regions of Siberia known as steppe. It was the perfect time and place to be a baby mammoth unaware of her destiny, to stumble into the 21st century and the path of a Nenet's family.
Baby Lyuba might have been only a few months old, traveling with the mammoth herd under the watchful eye of her mother. She would mimic the gestures of her family, but would not yet be coordinated or mature enough for a diet of plants. Lyuba would still be dependent on her mother's milk.
So how did Lyuba die? Crossing even a small stream would have been a challenge for any baby mammoth. But a one month old calf may not have had the skill to free itself from the mud. Frightened and flailing about she may have panicked inhaling murky water as she cried out for her mother, and finally choked on the thick river mud. She died by suffocation or drowning. By a strange twist of fate, this sad ending turned out to be just the beginning of Baby Lyuba's phenomenal tale.
在4萬年前的更新世晚期，長毛象仍然活躍地生存於西伯利亞乾草原的寒冷乾燥地帶。就在這個時空，一頭小長毛象渾然不知自己的命運，牠將陰錯陽差地踏入21世紀，與一個涅涅茨人家庭相遇。
可能只有一兩個月大的長毛象寶寶Lyuba與長毛象群一起四處游晃，在旁的母親時刻留意著牠。小Lyuba會模仿家族成員的舉止，不過由於身體尚未成熟，還不能以植物為食。Lyuba還在需要喝母乳的階段。
那麼，Lyuba是怎麼死的呢？對小長毛象來說，要通過一條小河是一件難事。一個月大的長毛象寶寶更是還沒有能力從泥漿中掙脫出來。牠害怕而拼命掙扎，向母親呼救，在慌亂中吸入了泥水，最後被濃稠的泥漿嗆死在河裡，死因是窒息或溺水。想不到因緣際會，這個悲劇成了小Lyuba驚人故事的開端。
Where: Hong Kong Science Museum 香港科學館
When: 10 May onwards
How: MTR, TST
