The remains of an ancient mammoth have been uncovered on the banks of the River Danube near the village of Ryahovo in northern Bulgaria, following a significant drop in water levels caused by ongoing heatwaves. A local resident discovered the bones exposed on the riverbed and alerted experts from the Regional History Museum in the nearby city of Ruse.

Museum specialists have identified several fragments, including a lower jawbone, parts of tusks, a shoulder blade, and a femur. The team plans to return to the site to recover more remains for detailed examination. Their goal is to determine the mammoth’s species, the circumstances of its death, and to glean further insights about the prehistoric animal.

Nikolay Nenov, director of the Regional History Museum, described the find as scientifically valuable, though not necessarily extraordinary. He suggested that the area where the bones were found was likely a swampland thousands of years ago, which might have contributed to the preservation of the remains beneath river sediments.

Mammoths roamed various regions of the Earth from approximately five million years ago, with most populations becoming extinct around 10,000 years ago. However, some isolated groups survived until roughly 4,000 years ago. The Danube River, which passes through ten countries from Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea, has reached historic low levels in several sections due to prolonged dry weather and heatwaves since May, conditions that have also exposed previously hidden archaeological and paleontological sites.