Danube Drought Exposes Mammoth Remains as Water Falls to 9 Inches in Budapest
Updated
Updated · CNN · Jul 31
Danube Drought Exposes Mammoth Remains as Water Falls to 9 Inches in Budapest
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jul 31
Summary
Ancient mammoth bones — a lower jaw, two tusks and possibly a rib — were found Wednesday on the newly exposed Danube riverbed in northern Bulgaria, with tests pending to confirm the species.
Record heat and drought drove the Danube to unprecedented lows, including 9 inches in Budapest on Wednesday, below the previous 13-inch record set in 2013.
The shrinking river is also exposing more recent wrecks, including Croatia's 1937 coal ship Fulton and a sunken Nazi warship in Serbia.
Low water is disrupting shipping and tourism, and Hungary says it may shut the Paks nuclear plant — which supplies nearly half the country's electricity — because the Danube cools the facility.
Scientists say Europe's repeated heat waves and drought are being intensified by human-driven climate change, with little rain forecast and worsening pressure on water, transport and energy.