this The wolf looks pretty good Considering its age, it is 44,000 years old.
In 2021, residents of Yakutia, eastern Russia, discovered a wolf. thick permafrost — Soils that are typically frozen year-round are beginning to thaw in many places as average global temperatures rise.
Researchers at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, Russia, currently mummified remains To learn more about animals.
The frozen environment helped create and perfectly preserve the mummies. Pleistocene predator. Most of the teeth and fur remain intact, as do some of the organs.
“This is actually shocking,” Robert Rossi, an anthropologist at the University of Alberta who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.
“This is the only fully adult Pliocene wolf discovered to date. That in itself is truly amazing and completely unique,” he added.
There’s a lot to learn from something like that Well-preserved ancient animalsIt can tell you about your genetics, your lifestyle, your diet, and even what types of ancient bacteria and viruses you have.
“Living bacteria can survive “For thousands of years, it has been a kind of witness to ancient times,” said Artemy Goncharov, a researcher at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, in a translated article. name.
A wolf’s stomach can store its last meal and more
This 44,000-year-old wolf likely belongs to an extinct species and was probably larger than any other wolf. modern wolfStudying the animal’s genome could help us figure out where it falls on the dog family tree, Losey said.
After examining one tooth, scientists believe the wolf is an adult male. They probably hunted in flat, cold environments filled with mammoths, woolly rhinos, extinct horses, bison, and reindeer.
The remains of some animals may remain in the wolf’s intestines. Researchers have taken stomach and digestive tract samples to learn more and are awaiting results.
Researchers may also uncover ancient features. Microorganisms performed It also revealed whether the wolves had parasites in their intestines, Losey said. If any microorganisms were unknown to the scientific community, they could play an important role in the development of future medicines, the researchers said.
This discovery is just one part of a larger collaboration to study other ancient animals, including fossil hares, horses and bears. Researchers previously wolf head Another wolf fossil from the Pleistocene period awaits dissection.
Ancient animals and infectious agents are melting away
As global temperatures rise and permafrost melts, more ancient creatures like these are resurfacing. For example, paleontologists in the Yukon are still gloating about the perfectly preserved baby mammoth discovered in 2022.
But not everything in permafrost is so harmless.
In 2016, a thaw on Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula released anthrax from a once-frozen carcass of a reindeer, infecting 36 people and killing one child.
Researchers have different Pathogens can sleep in the tundraThe thaw of the warming world was slowly approaching them.
Last year, researcher Jean-Michel Claveri announced that he had resurrected a 48,000-year-old virus he discovered in the Siberian permafrost. It can still infect single-celled amoebas.
“We see this amoeba virus as a surrogate virus for all the other viruses that might be present in permafrost,” Claverie said. C&N At that time. “We see traces of many other viruses, so we know they’re there. We can’t know for sure that they’re still alive.”
Ancient viruses and bacteria found in the guts of Yakutian wolves could help researchers better understand the microbes lurking within permafrost organisms.
This article was originally published by: Business Insider.
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