At a hospital in St. Petersburg, researchers performed investigative surgery on Lyuba, and removed samples for study. The researchers used an endoscope with a forceps to examine and sample her internal organs. They discovered that she had consumed her mother milk, and her mother's feces—a behavior known from modern baby elephants who consume their mothers' feces until they are old enough to digest food themselves.
From the left, Bernard Buigues of the International Mammoth Committee; Alexei Tihkonov of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Daniel Fisher of the University of Michigan; reindeer herder Yuri Khudi from the Yamal Peninsula; and Kirill Seretetto, a friend from Yar Sale who helped Yuri connect with the science team.
