Almost-complete mammoth skeleton found near Paris
Rex Features
Paris, it seems, is not just home to chocolate crêpes, amazing architecture, and romantic strolls.
An almost-complete skeleton of a mammoth that lived between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago has been found near the French capital.
The French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) said the remains were discovered at Changis-sur-Marne, northeast of Paris.
According to AFP, they included a femur, a complete pelvis, jawbones and four connected vertebrae.
The mammoth, named "Helmut" by the team that found it, is estimated to have been between 20 and 30 years old.
According to the Huffington Post, archaeologists from INRAP said: "Such a discovery is extraordinary in France, since only three specimens have been unearthed in 150 years."
Just last month, it was reported that an 11-year-old boy found a well-preserved mammoth carcass while out walking his dog in northern Siberia.
The remains were discovered at the end of August in Sopochnaya Karga, 3,500km (2,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, according to the BBC.
A team of experts from St Petersburg spent fie days extracting the body from frozen mud in September.
They estimate the mammoth to have been two metres tall and 500kg in weight, and guessed its age at the time of its death to be around 16.
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