After a year of meticulous restoration, the only mounted mammoth in France – and one of the biggest in the world – is back at the Galerie de Paléontologie (part of the Natural History Museum) close to our hotels (less than 20 minutes away on foot from the Hotel les Dames du Panthéon, for example).

6 metres long (plus 4 metres of tusks) and weighing ten tons, the mammoth’s restoration was made possible in part through a campaign of crowdfunding, during which 2,000 people donated nearly 200,000€.

The Durfort mammoth (named after the French town near which it was found in 1869) was transported to the Natural History Museum (in thirty-one boxes!) and mounted shortly after the three years of excavation necessary to remove it from the ground.

However, after being on show for 150 years, the skeleton was showing its age and definitely in need of restoration.

To ensure no part of this giant puzzle were lost, each bone was numbered and consolidated before being unmounted, cleared of dust and protected, a particularly difficult task for an animal with 80kg tusks whose skull weighs over a hundred kilos 😳

You’ll definitely feel rather small when seeing the beast up close, and it’s amazing to think that the southern mammoth‘s origins go back over 7 million years!

And you might not realise that the specimen displayed is actually not a fully grown adult, despite its extraordinary size.

French speakers can learn a little more about the discovery of this unusual skeleton in this 7-minute mini-podcast from national radio station France Culture.

And all the info you need for going to see it ‘in the flesh’ are below!

---

The Durfort mammoth is on show at the Galerie de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée (here)

Open every day except Tuesdays from 10am-6pm

In case of particularly hot weather, the venue may close at 2pm, so make sure you visit early

Admission: 10€ / 7€ / free for under-25s (tickets here)

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

What3Words ///chicken.adding.tables

🦣 Le mammouth de Durfort est enfin de retour en Galerie de Paléontologie 🥳 ! Après 13 mois de restauration, le célèbre spécimen trône à nouveau au 1er étage du bâtiment, encore plus majestueux qu'avant. Venez l'admirer dès aujourd'hui 👉 https://t.co/C9ip080zUh pic.twitter.com/dl1Nx8ID9M

— Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (@Le_Museum) June 28, 2023

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (@le_museum)