A team of French and Russian scientists is about to leave for the Taimyr peninsula in northern Siberia to dig up the carcass of a mammoth preserved for some 50,000 years in the permanently frozen ground. "This operation is in fact the culmination of the first stage of a programme launched 15 months ago," said M. Buigues of the Cercles Polaires -Expeditions Association which has already participated North and South Poles.