MAMMOTH'S HEAD FROM YAKUTIA TO BE EXHIBITED IN JAPAN

TOKYO, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Yukagir mammoth will be exhibited at EXPO-2005 in Seto, Nagakute and Toyota (Aichi Prefecture) in Japan from Match 25 to September 25, 2005. A relevant protocol was signed between the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Yakut government and the Japanese EXPO-2005 Association in Nagoya on Tuesday.

The mammoth's head will be exhibited in a separate pavilion in a special glass parallelepiped. The temperature inside will be 15 degrees below zero Celsius.

Additional information on the showpiece will be given to visitors, including a 15-minute film on the history of the find and the course of excavations.

According to general commissioner of the Russian exposition Vladimir Strashko, who signed the protocol, it envisages Russia's conditions of the exhibition of the unique head, including mammoth's transportation to Japan, its storage and return to Russia after EXPO-2005. Yakutia promised to help implement the project.

An international project on further excavations on the site where the mammoth's remains were discovered will be launched in September 2004. Scientists from several countries, including Japan, will be involved in the project. The expedition will be led by representatives of the Yakut department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The details of the expedition's financing are under consideration now.