A Mammoth Missed Opportunity

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44200347/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/reindeer-herder-finds-remains-baby-mammoth-russias-arctic/

For today's entry in the annals of Missed-Opportunities-to-Make-a-Climate-Change-Connection, I point you to a recent discovery of another perfectly-preserved wooly mammoth body frozen in the Siberian tundra. Another similarly preserved mammoth specimen was unearthed in 2007 in the same region of Russia. The story above says that a reindeer herder found the baby mammoth "poking out of the permafrost." In this description the article misses a giant opportunity to make a climate change connection.
I applaud the discovery of a well-preserved specimen of an ancient species. Paleontologists can study this new find and glean important details about Ice Age animals and their eventual extinction. However, I cannot applaud the conditions that made this discovery possible. The article fails to even hint that climate change led to this discovery. You might ask, "How? That's rather a large leap to make!"  
Climate change led to the discovery of this 40,000 year old mammoth by melting vast swaths of Siberian and Arctic permafrost. As the permafrost melts, things long frozen and buried beneath the ice become uncovered. That little mammoth had spent 40,000 years frozen in the tundra, and in that time no human or animal disturbed it. No seismic activity uncovered it. No wandering nomad found it. But now, as reports come in (see below) of Russia's rapidly melting permafrost, this little mammoth was found. I do not think it is a coincidence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/20/arctic-tundra

http://climatechangearticles.blogspot.com/2011/08/russias-permafrost-melting-will-add-to.html

As the Russian tundra melts, expect to see more mammoths. But while it would be incredibly awesome to actually recreate mammoths, we must remember that the only reason we have these specimens and their DNA is climate change.