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Frozen Wooly Mammoth Unveiled in Japan

Posted on: Friday, 18 March 2005, 07:38 CST

NAGAKUTE, Japan (AFP) -- A frozen mammoth dug up from the Siberian tundra was unveiled in central Japan in a preview of the six-month World Exposition which is expected to draw millions of tourists.

The beast, believed to have lived 18,000 years ago and preserved in a giant refrigerator, is a key exhibit of the Expo, which will open to the public one week later and will largely feature more modern wonders such as robots.

Full-bodied mammoths have been found in the ground in the past, but the exhibit at the World Expo is billed as the most successful attempt yet to excavate and display almost the full animal.

The extinct mammoth on display has a nearly intact soil-colored head covered with muscle tissue and some woolly hair, along with tusks and a front leg.

"This is not a mere pavilion, but a laboratory as we will do scientific research here," Toshio Nakamura, secretary-general of the exposition, told the opening ceremony of the "Mammoth Lab."

"This mammoth has been really well preserved," Nakamura said, adding that the head has already been monitored through computerized technology.

"We would like as many people as possible to take a look at this mammoth and think about the past and the future of human beings."

A group of Russian and Japanese scientists are also hoping to clone mammoths from remains of the animal by using elephant eggs.

Visitors can view the mammoth, which was excavated in 2002, from windows at the lab, where the temperature and humidity are controlled by computers.

The multi-million dollar project between Russia and Japan to examine the beast is intended to find out why mammoths became extinct in the Ice Age.

"The sad fact that mammoths became extinct is telling an important thing to us," said Alexander K. Akimov, vice president of the Sakha region in the Russian Federation, which owns the animal.

"We have to cherish the Earth and we should not forget about fostering all kinds of lives."

Japan expects the World Expo, with displays by more than 120 countries, to draw 15 million visitors before its close on September 25.

The Expo will also show off a wide range of robots, including ones which will guide visitors through the Expo in four languages, play with and talk to children and take out the trash.

At Toyota Pavilion, a two-legged humanoid on the trumpet jammed with fellow robot virtuosos on tuba, trombone, horn and drums for songs such as "When the Saints Go Marching In."

The main display of the nation's biggest carmaker featured an "i-foot" robot which looks like half an eggshell with two legs and which can let people on or off it by bending its legs. It also unveiled a one-seat "i-unit" concept vehicle.

Toyota said it hoped the "i-foot" would eventually replace wheelchairs since users can control it with a joystick even on staircases.

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