Russian scientists have found the furry head of an Ice Age wolf perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost.
The head of a wolf, which died 40,000 years ago, was discovered in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia.
Valery Plotnikov, a top researcher at the local branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the animal belonged to an ancient subspecies of wolf that lived at the same time as the mammoths and became extinct alongside them. Scientists said it was an adult, about 25% bigger than today’s wolves, but did not say whether it was male or female.
Plotnikov called the discovery unique because scientists previously only had found wolf skulls without tissues or fur, while this head has ears, a tongue and a perfectly preserved brain.
Social media was abuzz with tweets on the ancient, severed head.
Russian and Japanese scientists have unveiled the first intact adult head of an Ice Age wolf species, which was preserved in permafrost for 40,000 years.https://t.co/3iP6G9c28B— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) June 12, 2019
"It was found by mammoth tusk hunters in Siberia's Verkhoyansk region." Wait what, 'Mammoth Tusk Hunter' is an actual job? Why is this not a reality TV show? Also, given mammoths were alive when the Pyramids were built, when do we find cloneable remains? https://t.co/vdVEbXXkdX— Jon Evans (@rezendi) June 12, 2019
I'm not saying this was all I've been thinking about for the past 24 hours, but I'm not NOT saying it either. (30,000 years!!!!) https://t.co/DLNHzxqasP— Bill Schulz (@BillSchulz) June 13, 2019
This is so very cool - they also found “an ancient cave lion cub” - and highly disturbing at the same time. The planet is warming - thawing certain regions like those in Siberia and yielding these remains… https://t.co/4T7ajGtX6N— Debyani Chakravarty (@CDebyaniPhD) June 12, 2019
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)