For sale: One extremely rare Ice Age woolly mammoth skeleton

This skeleton of an Ice Age woolly mammoth is up for sale - but could fetch up to £250,000 when it goes under the hammer. The rare find is residing at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, West Sussex, after a private collector from Eastern Europe asked the firm to sell it on his behalf. The almost-complete skeleton, which is believed to be made up of more than 150 bones, includes the tusks, making it extremely rare, a Summers Place spokeswoman said.

The woolly mammoth co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used its bones and tusks for making art, which also explains why complete skeletons are so rare.

Summers Place Auctions spokesperson

A spokesperson for Summers Place Auctions said: ‘Imagine the mammoth covered in fur - long fur on top with a shorter undercoat - and although quite similar to today’s elephant, it had smaller ears and a shorter tail to minimise frostbite and heat loss, so it was well adapted for the Ice Age.’ The mammoth will be part of the second Evolution Sale on Wednesday November 26. The auction house is also asking people to send them name suggestions on a postcard by October 13.